v 


SOCIAL    STATICS, 

ABRIDGED   AND   REVISED; 
TOGETHER  WITH 

MAN  VERSUS  THE   STATE. 


BY 

HERBERT   SPENCER. 


NEW    YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY. 

1896. 


COPYRIGHT,  1892, 
BY  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


All  rights  reserved. 


Annex 

HA\ 


SOCIAL   STATICS 
ABRIDGED   AND  REVISED. 


PREFACE. 


PUBLISHED  in  December,  1850,  this  work  in  its  original 
form  was  entitled  Social  Statics :  or,  the  Conditions  essen- 
tial to  Human  Happiness  specified,  and  the  first  of  them 
developed.  A  number  of  years  passed — some  ten,  I  think — 
before  the  edition  was  exhausted ;  and  as  the  demand  seemed 
not  great  enough  to  warrant  the  setting  up  of  type  for  a  new 
edition,  it  was  decided  to  import  an  edition  from  America, 
where  the  work  had  been  stereotyped.  After  this  had  been 
disposed  of  a  third  edition  was  similarly  imported. 

In  the  meantime  I  had  relinquished  some  of  the  conclu- 
sions drawn  from  the  first  principle  laid  down.  Further, 
though  still  adhering  to  this  first  principle,  one  of  the  bases 
assigned  for  it  had  been  given  up  by  me.  To  the  successive 
editions  I  therefore  prefixed  the  statement  that  some  of  the 
doctrines  set  forth  needed  qualification ;  but  excused  myself 
from  making  the  changes  called  for,  because  they  could  not 
be  made  without  suspending  more  important  work.  Eventu- 
ally, it  became  manifest  that  the  warning  given  did  not  pre- 
vent misinterpretations  of  my  later  beliefs ;  and,  therefore, 
ten  years  ago,  after  all  copies  of  the  third  edition  had  been 
sold,  I  resolved  not  again  to  import  a  supply  to  meet  the  still- 
continued  demand. 

As,  however,  the  fundamental  idea  enunciated,  and  many 
of  the  deductions  have  survived  in  me,  I  have  all  along  intend- 
ed that  these  should  be  put  in  a  permanently  accessible  form  ; 
and  in  1890  at  leisure  times  I  went  through  the  work,  eras- 
ing some  portions,  abridging  others,  and  subjecting  the  whole 
to  a  careful  verbal  revision.  Its  purely  systematic  division 
is  now  replaced  by  Part  IV.  of  The  Principles  of  Ethics : 
Justice — a  part  in  which  the  ethical  doctrine  originally  set 


4  PREFACE. 

forth  in  an  imperfect  form,  is  freed  from  its  crudities  and 
made  scientifically  coherent.  But  Justice  contains  neither 
the  discussions  which,  in  Social  Statics,  preceded  the  con- 
structive division,  nor  the  series  of  chapters  in  which,  towards 
the  close,  the  political  implications  were  pointed  out.  Both 
of  these  portions  seem  worth  preserving. 

I  am  desirous  of  preserving  also  certain  passages  contain- 
ing ideas,  and  the  germs  of  ideas,  which,  since  1850,  have 
undergone  large  developments.  These  have  a  certain  bio- 
graphio-historical  interest,  as  indicating  stages  of  growth  in 
thoughts.  The  more  significant  of  them  will  be  found  on 
p.  32,  pp.  33-35,  pp.  121-22,  pp.  149-50,  pp.  180-81,  pp. 
203-6,  p.  245,  pp.  249-51,  pp.  267-70. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  work,  numerous  references  are 
made  to  the  events  of  the  day  and  to  institutions  existing 
when  it  was  written.  During  the  forty  years  which  have 
since  passed,  social  changes  have  diminished  or  destroyed 
the  relevancy  of  some  of  these  references.  It  has  seemed 
best,  however,  to  leave  them  as  they  were ;  partly  because 
the  arguments  remain  equally  valid  though  their  data  are 
altered  ;  partly  because  substituting  other  illustrations  would 
entail  on  me  more  labour  than  I  can  now  afford ;  and  partly 
because,  even  were  the  illustrations  brought  up  to  date,  lapse 
of  years  would  soon  make  them  out  of  date. 

My  first  intention  was  to  call  this  volume,  or  rather  part  of 
a  volume,  "  Fragments  from  Social  Statics,"  and  afterwards, 
"  Selections  from  Social  Statics."  Both  of  these  titles,  how- 
ever, seemed  to  indicate  a  much  less  coherent  assemblage  of 
parts  than  it  contains.  On  the  other  hand,  to  call  it  an 
abridgment  is  somewhat  misleading ;  since  the  word  fails  to 
imply  that  large  and  constructively-important  parts  are  omit- 
ted. No  title,  however,  appears  appropriate ;  and  I  have  at 
length  decided  that  Social  Statics,  abridged  and  revised,  is 
the  least  inappropriate. 
LONDON,  January,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

HAPPINESS  AS  AN  IMMEDIATE  AlM 7 

UNGUIDED  EXPEDIENCY 11 

THE  MORAL-SENSE  DOCTRINE 15 

WHAT  is  MORALITY? 25 

THE  EVANESCENCE  [1  DIMINUTION]  OP  EVIL 28 

GREATEST  HAPPINESS  MUST  BE  SOUGHT  INDIRECTLY.        ...  33 

DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE 36 

SECONDARY  DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE 46 

FIRST  PRINCIPLE 55 

APPLICATION  OF  THIS  FIRST  PRINCIPLE 60 

THE  RIGHT  OF  PROPERTY 62 

SOCIALISM 65 

THE  RIGHT  OF  PROPERTY  IN  IDEAS 68 

THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 73 

THE  RIGHTS  OF  CHILDREN 80 

POLITICAL  RIGHTS 91 

THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  STATE 95 

THE  DUTY  OF  THE  STATE 109 

THE  LIMIT  OF  STATE-DUTY 121 

THE  REGULATION  OF  COMMERCE  .        .        .        ...        .        .        .  137 

RELIGIOUS  ESTABLISHMENTS 141 

POOR-LAWS 144 

NATIONAL  EDUCATION 156 

GOVERNMENT  COLONIZATION 188 

SANITARY  SUPERVISION 200 

CURRENCY,  POSTAL  ARRANGEMENTS,  ETC 221 

GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS                                                       .        .        .  233 


HAPPINESS  AS  AN  IMMEDIATE  AIM. 

ASSUMING  it  to  be  in  other  respects  satisfactory,  a  rule, 
principle,  or  axiom,  is  valuable  only  in  so  far  as  the  words 
in  which  it  is  expressed  have  definite  meanings.  We  must 
therefore  take  it  for  granted  that  when  he  announced  "  the 
greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest  number,"  or  otherwise  "  the 
greatest  happiness,"  as  the  canon  of  social  morality,  its 
originator  supposed  mankind  to  be  unanimous  in  their  con- 
ception of  "  greatest  happiness." 

This  was  an  unfortunate  assumption,  for  the  standard  of 
happiness  is  infinitely  variable.  In  all  ages — amongst  every 
people — by  each  class — do  we  find  different  notions  of  it 
entertained.  To  the  wandering  gipsy  a  home  is  tiresome ; 
whilst  a  Swiss  is  miserable  without  one.  The  heaven  of  the 
Hebrew  is  "  a  city  of  gold  and  precious  stones,  with  a  super- 
natural abundance  of  corn  and  wine  ; "  that  of  the  Turk — a 
harem  peopled  by  houris ;  that  of  the  American  Indian — a 
"  happy  hunting-ground."  In  the  Norse  paradise  there  were 
to  be  daily  battles,  with  magical  healing  of  wounds ;  while 
the  Australian  hopes  that  after  death  he  shall  "  jump  up  a 
white  fellow,  and  have  plenty  of  sixpences."  Descending  to 
individual  instances,  we  find  Louis  XVI.  interpreting  "  great- 
est happiness  "  to  mean — making  locks ;  instead  of  which  his 
successor  read — making  empires.  To  a  miserly  Elwes  the 
hoardiiig  of  money  was  the  only  enjoyment  of  life  ;  but  Day, 
the  philanthropic  author  of  "  Sandford  and  Merton,"  could 
find  no  pleasurable  employment  save  in  its  distribution.  The 


8  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

ambitions  of  the  tradesman  and  the  artist  are  anything  but 
alike ;  and  could  we  compare  the  air  castles  of  the  plough- 
man and  the  philosopher,  we  should  find  them  of  widely- 
different  styles  of  architecture. 

Generalizing  such  facts,  we  see  that  the  idea  of  "  greatest 
happiness"  is  as  variable  as  the  other  elements  of  human 
nature.  Between  nations  the  differences  of  opinion  are  con- 
spicuous enough.  On  contrasting  the  Hebrew  patriarchs 
with  their  existing  descendants,  we  observe  that  even  in  the 
same  race  the  beau  ideal  of  existence  changes.  The  members 
of  each  community  disagree  upon  the  question.  Neither,  if 
we  compare  the  wishes  of  the  gluttonous  schoolboy  with 
those  of  the  earth-scorning  transcendentalist  into  whom  he 
may  afterwards  grow,  do  we  find  any  constancy  in  the  indi- 
vidual. 

The  rationale  of  this  is  simple  enough.  Happiness  signi- 
fies a  gratified  state  of  all  the  faculties.  The  gratification  of 
a  faculty  is  produced  by  its  exercise.  To  be  agreeable  that 
exercise  must  be  proportionate  to  the  power  of  the  faculty  : 
if  it  is  insufficient  discontent  arises,  -and  its  excess  produces 
weariness.  Hence,  to  have  complete  felicity  is  to  have  all 
the  faculties  exerted  in  the  ratio  of  the  several  developments ; 
and  an  ideal  arrangement  of  circumstances  calculated  to 
secure  this  constitutes  the  standard  of  "  greatest  happiness." 
But  the  minds  of  no  two  individuals  contain  the  same  com- 
bination of  elements.  There  is  in  each  a  different  balance  of 
desires.  Therefore  the  conditions  adapted  for  the  highest 
enjoyment  of  one,  would  not  perfectly  compass  the  same  end 
for  any  other.  And,  consequently,  the  notion  of  happiness 
must  vary  with  the  disposition  and  character ;  that  is,  must 
vary  indefinitely. 

The  allegation  that  these  are  hypercritical  objections,  and 
that  for  all  practical  purposes  we  agree  sufficiently  well  as  to 
what  "  greatest  happiness  "  means,  will  possibly  be  made  by 
some.  This  allegation  is  easily  disposed  of;  for  there  are 
plenty  of  questions  practical  enough  to  satisfy  such  cavillers, 


HAPPINESS  AS  AN  IMMEDIATE  AIM.  9 

about  which  men  exhibit  nono  of  this  assumed  unanimity. 
For  example : — 

-  What   is  the  ratio   between  the  mental   and   bodily 
enjoyments  constituting  "  greatest  happiness  "  ?     There  is  a 
point   up   to  which   increase   of   mental   activity   produces 
increase  of  happiness  ;  but  beyond  which,  it  produces  in  the 
end  more  pain  than  pleasure.     Where  is  that  point  ?     Some 
appear  to  think  that  intellectual  culture  and  the  gratifications 
deriveable  from  it  can  hardly  be  carried  too  far.     Others 
maintain   that   already  among  the  educated  classes  mental 
excitements  are  taken  in  excess ;  and  that  were  more  time 
given  to  physical  activities,  a  larger  amount  of  enjoyment 
would  be  obtained.     If  "greatest  happiness"  is  to  be  the 
rule,  it  becomes  needful  to  decide  which  of  these  opinions  is 
correct ;  and,  further,  to  determine  the  boundary  between 
the  use  and  abuse  of  every  faculty. 

—  Which  is  most  truly  an  element  in  the  desired  felici- 
ty, content  or  aspiration  ?  The  generality  assume  that,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  content  is.  There  are  others,  however, 
who  hold  that  but  for  discontent  we  should  have  been  still 
savages.  It  is  in  their  eyes  the  greatest  incentive  to  prog- 
ress. Nay,  they  maintain  that  were  content  the  order  of  the 
day,  society  would  even  now  begin  to  decay.  It  is  required 
to  reconcile  these  contradictory  theories. 

-  And   this   synonym   for  "  greatest  happiness  " — this 
"  utility  " — what  shall  be  comprised  under  it  ?     The  million 
would  confine  it  to  the  things  which  directly  or  indirectly 
minister  to  the  bodily  wants,  and  in  the  words  of  the  adage 
"  help  to  get  something  to  put  in  the  pot."    Others  there  are 
who  think  mental  culture  useful  in  itself,  irrespective  of  so- 
called  practical  results,  and  would  therefore  teach  astronomy, 
geology,  anatomy,  ethnology,  &c.,  together  with  logic  and 
metaphysics.     Unlike  some  of  the  Roman  writers  who  held 
practice  of  the  fine  arts  to  be  vicious,  there  are  now  many 
who  suppose  utility  to  comprehend  poetry,  painting,  sculp- 
ture, and  whatever  aids  the  refinement  of  the  taste.     While 


10  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

an  extreme  party  maintains  that  music,  dancing,  the  drama, 
and  what  are  commonly  called  amusements,  are  equally 
worthy  to  be  included.  In  place  of  all  which  discordance 
we  ought  to  have  agreement. 

—  Whether  shall  we  adopt  the  theory  of  some  that  felicity 
means  the  greatest  possible  enjoyment  of  this  life's  pleasures, 
or  that  of  others,  that  it  consists  in  anticipating  the  pleasures 
of  a  life  to  come  ?  And  if  we  compromise  the  matter,  and  say 
it  should  combine  both,  how  much  of  each  shall  go  to  its 
composition  ? 

-  Or  what  must  we  think  of  this  wealth-seeking  age  of 
ours?  Shall  we  consider  the  total  absorption  of  time  and 
energy  in  business — the  spending  of  life  in  the  accumulation 
of  the  means  to  live,  as  constituting  "  greatest  happiness," 
and  act  accordingly  ?  Or  how  shall  we  hold  that  this  is  to 
be  regarded  as  the  voracity  of  a  larva  assimilating  material 
for  the  development  of  the  future  psyche  ? 

Not  only,  therefore,  is  an  agreement  as  to  the  meaning  of 
"  greatest  happiness "  theoretically  impossible,  but  it  is  also 
manifest  that  men  are  at  issue  upon  all  topics  which,  for 
their  determination,  require  defined  notions  of  it.  So  that  in 
directing  us  to  this  "  greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest  num- 
ber," as  the  object  towards  which  we  should  steer,  our  pilot 
"  keeps  the  word  of  promise  to  our  ear  and  breaks  it  to  our 
hope."  What  he  shows  us  through  his  telescope  is  a  fata 
morgana,  and  not  the  promised  land.  The  real  haven  sought 
dips  far  down  below  the  horizon,  and  has  yet  been  seen  by 
none.  Faith  not  sight  must  be  our  guide.  We  cannot  do 
without  a  compass. 


UNGUIDED  EXPEDIENCY. 

EVEN  were  the  fundamental  proposition  of  the  expediency 
system  not  thus  vitiated  by  the  indefiniteness  of  its  terms, 
it  would  still  be  vulnerable.  Granting  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment, that  the  desideratum,  "greatest  happiness,"  is  duly 
comprehended,  its  identity  and  nature  agreed  upon  by  all, 
and  the  direction  in  which  it  lies  satisfactorily  settled,  there 
yet  remains  the  unwarranted  assumption  that  it  is  possible  to 
determine  empirically  by  what  methods  it  may  be  achieved 
Experience  daily  proves  that  an  uncertainty  like  that  which 
exists  respecting  the  specific  ends  to  be  obtained,  exists  re- 
specting the  right  mode  of  attaining  them  when  supposed  to 
be  known.  Let  us  look  at  a  few  cases. 

When  it  was  enacted  in  Bavaria  that  no  marriage  should  be 
allowed  between  those  without  capital,  unless  certain  authori- 
ties could  "  see  a  reasonable  prospect  of  the  parties  being 
able  to  provide  for  their  children,"  it  was  intended  to  ad- 
vance the  public  weal  by  checking  improvident  unions,  and 
redundant  population  :  a  purpose  most  politicians  will  con- 
sider praiseworthy,  and  a  provision  which  many  will  think 
well  adapted  to  secure  it.  Nevertheless  this  apparently 
sagacious  measure  has  by  no  means  answered  its  end.  In 
Munich,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  half  the  births  are 
illegitimate ! 

Those  too  were  admirable  motives,  and  cogent  reasons, 
which  led  our  Government  to  establish  an  armed  force  on  the 
coast  of  Africa  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade.  What 


12  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

could  be  more  essential  to  the  "  greatest  happiness  "  than  the 
annihilation  of  the  abominable  traffic?  And  how  could 
forty  ships  of  war,  supported  by  an  expenditure  of  £700,000 
a  year,  fail  to  accomplish  this  ?  The  results  have,  however, 
been  anything  but  satisfactory.  When  the  abolitionists  of 
England  advocated  it,  they  little  thought  that  such  a 
measure  instead  of  preventing  would  only  "aggravate  the 
horrors,  without  sensibly  mitigating  the  extent  of  the  traffic  ; " 
that  it  would  generate  fast-sailing  slavers  with  decks  one  foot 
six  inches  apart,  suffocation  from  close  packing,  miserable 
diseases,  and  a  mortality  of  thirty-five  per  cent.  They 
dreamed  not  that  when  hard  pressed  a  slaver  might  throw 
a  whole  cargo  of  500  negroes  into  the  sea;  nor  that  on  a 
blockaded  coast  the  disappointed  chiefs  would,  as  at  Gallinas, 
put  to  death  200  men  and  women,  and  stick  their  heads  on 
poles  along  shore,  in  sight  of  the  squadron.*  In  short,  they 
never  anticipated  having  to  plead,  as  they  now  do,  for  the 
abandonment  of  coercion. 

The  Spitalfields  weavers  afford  us  another  case  in  point. 
No  doubt  the  temptation  which  led  them  to  obtain  the  Act 
of  1773,  fixing  a  minimum  of  wages,  was  a  strong  one  ;  and 
the  anticipations  of  greater  comfort  to  be  secured  by  its  en- 
forcement must  have  seemed  reasonable  enough  to  all.  Un- 
fortunately, however,  the  weavers  did  not  consider  the  conse- 
quences of  being  interdicted  from  working  at  reduced  rates ; 
and  little  expected  that  before  1793,  some  4000  looms  would 
be  brought  to  a  stand  in  consequence  of  the  trade  going  else- 
where. 

To  mitigate  distress  having  appeared  needful  for  the  pro- 
duction of  the  "  greatest  happiness,"  the  English  people  have 
sanctioned  upwards  of  one  hundred  Acts  of  Parliament  having 
this  end  in  view ;  each  of  them  arising  out  of  the  failure  or 
incompleteness  of  Acts  previously  passed.  Men  are  never- 

*See  Anti-Slavery  Society's  Report  for  1847;  and  Evidence  before 
Parliamentary  Committee,  1848. 


UNGUIDED  EXPEDIENCY.  13 

theless  still  discontented  with  the  Poor  Laws,  and  we  are 
seemingly  as  far  as  ever  from  satisfactory  settlement  of  them. 

But  why  cite  individual  cases  ?  Does  not  the  experience 
of  all  nations  testify  to  the  futility  of  these  empirical  attempts 
at  the  acquisition  of  happiness  ?  What  is  the  statute-book 
but  a  record  of  such  unhappy  guesses  ?  or  history  but  a 
narrative  of  their  unsuccessful  issues  ?  And  what  forwarder 
are  we  now  ?  Is  not  our  Government  as  busy  still  as  though 
the  work  of  law-making  commenced  but  yesterday  ?  Nearly 
every  parliamentary  proceeding  is  a  tacit  confession  of  in- 
competence. There  is  scarcely  a  bill  introduced  but  is  enti- 
tled "  An  Act  to  amend  an  Act."  The  "  Whereas  "  of  almost 
every  preamble  heralds  an  account  of  the  miscarriage  of 
previous  legislation. 

The  expediency-philosophy,  however,  ignores  this  world 
full  of  facts.  Though  men  have  so  constantly  been  balked 
in  their  attempts  to  secure,  by  legislation,  any  desired  con- 
stituent of  that  complex  whole,  "  greatest  happiness,"  it  con- 
tinues to  place  confidence  in  the  unaided  judgments  of 
statesmen.  It  asks  no  guide ;  it  possesses  no  eclectic  prin- 
ciple ;  but  it  assumes  that  after  an  inspection  of  the  aggre- 
gate phenomena  of  national  life,  governments  are  qualified  to 
devise  such  measures  as  shall  be  "expedient."  It  considers 
the  interpretation  of  human  nature  so  easy,  the  constitution 
of  the  social  organism  so  simple,  the  causes  of  a  people's 
conduct  so  obvious,  that  a  general  inspection  can  give  to 
"  collective  wisdom  "  the  insight  requisite  for  law-making. 

If,  without  any  previous  investigation  of  the  properties  of 
terrestrial  matter,  Newton  had  proceeded  at  once  to  study 
the  dynamics  of  the  solar  system,  and  after  years  spent  in 
contemplation  of  it  and  in  setting  down  the  distances,  sizes, 
times  of  revolution,  inclinations  of  axes,  forms  of  orbits, 
perturbations,  &c.,  of  its  component  bodies,  had  set  himself  to 
digest  this  accumulated  mass  of  observations,  and  to  educe 
a  physical  interpretation  of  planetary  motions,  he  might  have 
cogitated  to  all  eternity  without  arriving  at  the  truth. 


14  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

But  futile  as  such  a  method  of  research  would  have  been, 
it  would  have  been  less  futile  than  the  attempt  to  find  out 
the  principles  of  public  polity,  by  an  unguided  examina- 
tion of  that  intricate  combination — society.  Considering 
that  men  as  yet  so  imperfectly  understand  m(m — the  instru- 
ment by  which,  and  the  material  on  which,  laws  are  to  act — 
and  that  a  knowledge  of  the  unit — man,  is  but  a  first  step  to 
the  comprehension  of  the  mass — society,  it  seems  obvious  that 
to  educe  from  the  complicated  phenomena  presented  by 
humanity  at  large,  a  true  philosophy  of  social  life,  and  to 
found  thereon  a  code  of  rules  for  the  obtainment  of  "  greatest 
happiness  "  is  a  task  beyond  the  ability  of  any  finite  mind. 


THE  MOKAL-SENSE  DOCTKINE. 

HAD  we  no  other  inducement  to  eat  than  that  arising  from 
the  prospect  of  certain  advantages  to  be  thereby  obtained,  it 
is  scarcely  probable  that  our  bodies  would  be  so  well  cared 
for  as  now.  One  can  quite  imagine  that  were  we  deprived  of 
that  punctual  monitor — appetite,  and  left  to  the  guidance  of 
some  reasoned  code  of  rules,  such  rules,  were  they  never  so 
philosophical,  and  the  benefits  of  obeying  them  never  so 
obvious,  would  form  but  a  very  inefficient  substitute.  Or, 
instead  of  that  powerful  affection  by  which  men  are  led  to 
nourish  and  protect  their  offspring,  did  there  exist  merely  an 
abstract  opinion  that  it  is  proper  or  necessary  to  maintain 
the  population  of  the  globe,  it  is  questionable  whether  the 
annoyance,  anxiety,  and  expense,  of  providing  for  a  posterity, 
would  not  so  far  exceed  the  anticipated  good,  as  to  involve  a 
rapid  extinction  of  the  species.  And  if,  in  addition  to  these 
needs  of  the  body  and  of  the  race,  all  other  requirements  of 
our  nature  were  similarly  consigned  to  the  sole  care  of  the 
intellect — were  knowledge,  property,  freedom,  reputation, 
friends,  sought  only  at  its  dictation — then  would  our  investi- 
gations be  so  perpetual,  our  estimates  so  complex,  our  decisions 
so  difficult,  that  life  would  be  wholly  occupied  in  the  collec- 
tion of  evidence  and  the  balancing  of  probabilities.  Under 
such  an  arrangement  the  utilitarian  philosophy  would  indeed 
have  strong  argument  in  nature ;  for  it  would  be  simply 
applying  to  society,  that  system  of  governance  by  appeal  to 
calculated  final  results,  which  already  ruled  the  individual. 


16  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

Quite  different,  however,  is  the  method  of  nature.  An- 
swering to  each  of  the  actions  which  it  is  requisite  for  us  to  per- 
form, we  find  in  ourselves  some  prompter  called  a  desire ;  and 
the  more  essential  the  action,  the  more  powerful  is  the  im- 
pulse to  its  performance,  and  the  more  intense  the  gratifica- 
tion derived  therefrom.  Thus,  the  longings  for  food,  for 
sleep,  for  warmth,  are  irresistible ;  and  quite  independent  of 
foreseen  advantages.  The  continuance  of  the  race  is  secured 
by  others  equally  strong,  whose  dictates  are  followed,  not  in 
obedience  to  reason,  but  often  in  defiance  of  it.  That  men 
are  not  impelled  to  accumulate  the  means  of  subsistence 
solely  by  a  view  to  consequences,  is  proved  by  the  existence 
of  misers,  in  whom  the  love  of  acquirement  is  gratified  to 
the  neglect  of  the  ends  to  be  subserved. 

May  we  not  then  reasonably  expect  to  find  kindred  instru- 
mentalities prompting  the  conduct  called  moral  ?  All  must 
admit  that  we  are  guided  to  our  bodily  welfare  by  instincts ; 
that  from  instincts  also,  spring  those  domestic  relationships 
by  which  other  important  objects  are  compassed ;  and  that 
certain  prompters  called  sentiments  secure  our  indirect 
benefit,  by  regulating  social  intercourse  Is  it  not  then  prob- 
able that  a  like  mental  mechanism  is  at  work  throughout ; 
and  that  upright  conduct  in  each  being  necessary  to  the 
happiness  of  all,  there  exists  in  us  an  impulse  towards  such 
conduct ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  we  possess  a  "  Moral 
Sense"? 

In  bar  of  this  conclusion  it  is  urged,  that  did  there  exist 
such  an  agency,  men  would  exhibit  a  more  manifest  obedi- 
ence to  its  supposed  dictates  than  they  do.  There  would 
be  a  greater  uniformity  of  opinion  as  to  the  Tightness  or 
wrongness  of  actions ;  and  we  should  not,  as  now,  find  one 
man,  or  nation,  considering  as  a  virtue,  what  another  regards 
as  a  vice — a  Thug  regarding  as  a  religious  act,  that  assassina- 
tion at  which  a  European  shudders — an  Egyptian  piquing 
himself  on  his  successful  lying — a  red  Indian  on  his  undying 
revenge. 


THE  MORAL-SENSE  DOCTRINE.  17 

Overwhelming  as  this  objection  appears,  it  may  be  met 
thus : — None  deny  the  universal  existence  of  that  instinct 
already  adverted  to,  which  urges  us  to  take  the  food  needful 
to  support  life  ;  and  none  deny  that  such  instinct  is  highly 
beneficial,  and  in  all  likelihood  essential  to  being.  Never- 
theless there  are  not  wanting  infinite  evils  and  incongruities, 
arising  out  of  its  rule.  All  know  that  appetite  does  not 
invariably  guide  men  aright  in  the  choice  of  food,  either  as 
to  quality  or  quantity.  Neither  can  any  maintain  that  its 
dictates  are  uniform  in  different  persons  and  peoples.  Like 
irregularities  may  be  found  in  the  working  of  parental  af- 
fection. Among  ourselves,  its  beneficial  sway  is  tolerably 
regular.  In  many  places,  however,  infanticide  is  practised 
now  as  it  ever  has  been.  During  early  European  times,  it 
was  common  to  expose  babes  to  the  tender  mercies  of  wild 
beasts.  And  it  was  the  Spartan  practice  to  cast  all  the 
newly-born  who  were  not  approved  by  a  committee  of  old 
men,  into  a  public  pit  provided  for  the  purpose.  If,  then,  it 
be  argued  that  the  want  of  uniformity  in  men's  moral  codes, 
together  with  the  weakness  and  partiality  of  their  influence, 
prove  the  non-existence  of  a  sentiment  prompting  right 
actions,  it  must  be  inferred  from  analogous  irregularities  in 
men's  conduct  as  to  food  and  offspring,  that  there  are  no  such 
feelings  as  appetite  and  parental  affection.  As,  however,  we 
do  not  draw  this  inference  in  the  one  case,  we  cannot  do  so 
in  the  other. 

That  we  possess  something  which  may  not  improperly  be 
called  a  moral  sense,  may  be  best  proved  by  evidence  drawn 
from  the  lips  of  those  who  assert  that  we  have  it  not. 
Bentham  unwittingly  derives  his  initial  proposition  from  an 
oracle  whose  existence  he  denies.  "  One  man,"  he  remarks, 
speaking  of  Shaftesbury,  "  says  he  has  a  thing  made  on  pur- 
pose to  tell  him  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong ;  and  that  it 
is  called  a  moral  sense :  and  then  he  goes  to  work  at  his  ease, 
and  says  such  and  such  a  thing  is  right,  and  such  and  such 


18  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

a  thing  is  wrong.  "Why  ?  '  because  my  moral  sense  tells  me 
it  is.'  '  Now  that  Bentham  should  have  no  other  authority 
for  his  own  maxim,  is  somewhat  unfortunate  for  him.  Yet, 
on  putting  that  maxim  into  critical  hands,  we  shall  soon  dis- 
cover such  to  be  the  fact.  Let  us  do  this. 

"  And  so  you  think,"  says  the  patrician,  "  that  the  object 
of  our  rule  should  be  '  the  greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest 
number  ? ' " 

"  Such  is  our  opinion,"  answers  the  petitioning  ple- 
beian. 

"  Well  now,  let  us  see  what  your  principle  involves.  Sup- 
pose men  to  be,  as  they  commonly  are,  at  variance  in  their 
desires  on  some  point ;  and  suppose  that  those  forming  the 
larger  party  will  receive  a  certain  amount  of  happiness  each, 
from  the  adoption  of  one  course,  whilst  those  forming  the 
smaller  party  will  receive  the  same  amount  of  happiness 
each,  from  the  adoption  of  the  opposite  course ;  then  if 
'  greatest  happiness '  is  to  be  our  guide,  it  must  follow,  must 
it  not,  that  the  larger  party  ought  to  have  their  way  ? " 

"Certainly." 

"  That  is  to  say,  if  those  who  want  what  you  do  are  a 
hundred,  whilst  those  who  want  what  I  do  are  ninety-nine, 
your  happiness  must  be  preferred,  should  the  individual 
amounts  of  gratification  at  stake  on  the  two  sides  be 
equal." 

"  Exactly ;  our  axiom  involves  that." 

"  So  then  it  seems  that  as,  in  such  a  case,  you  decide 
between  the  two  parties  by  numerical  majority,  you  assume 
that  the  happiness  of  a  member  of  the  one  party,  is  equally 
important  with  that  of  a  member  of  the  other." 

"  Of  course." 

"  "VVheref ore,  if  reduced  to  its  simplest  form,  your  doctrine 
turns  out  to  be  the  assertion,  that  all  men  have  equal  claims 
to  happiness ;  or,  applying  it  personally — that  you  have  as 
good  a  right  to  happiness  as  I  have." 

"  No  doubt  I  have." 


THE  MORAL-SENSE  DOCTRINE.  19 

"And  pray,  sir,  who  told  you  that  you  have  as  good  a 
right  to  happiness  as  I  have  ?  " 

"  Who  told  me  ? — I  am  sure  of  it ;  it  is  a  manifest  truth  ; 
I- 

"  Nay,  nay,  that  will  not  do.     Give  me  your  authority." 

Whereupon,  our  petitioner  is  forced  to  confess,  that  he 
has  no  other  authority  but  his  own  feeling — that  he  has  simply 
an  innate  perception  of  the  fact ;  or,  in  other  words,  that 
"  his  moral  sense  tells  him  so." 

Whether  it  rightly  tells  him  so,  need  not  now  be  con- 
sidered. All  that  demands  present  notice  is  the  fact  that, 
when  cross-examined,  even  the  disciples  of  Bentham  have  no 
alternative  but  to  fall  back  on  an  intuition  of  this  derided 
"  moral  sense,"  for  the  foundation  of  their  own  system. 

But  how,  it  may  be  asked,  can  a  sentiment  have  a 
perception  ?  how  can  an  emotion  give  rise  to  a  moral 
sense  f 

The  objection  seems  a  serious  one  ;  and  were  the  term  sense 
to  be  understood  in  its  strict  acceptation,  would  be  fatal. 
But  the  word  is  in  this  case,  as  in  many  others,  used  to 
express  that  liking  or  aversion  with  which  an  emotional 
faculty  comes  to  regard  the  deeds  and  objects  it  is  related 
to ;  or  rather  that  judgment  which  it  causes  the  intellect 
to  form  of  them.  To  elucidate  this  we  must  take  an  ex- 
ample. 

Joined  with  the  impulse  to  acquire  property,  there  is  what 
we  call  a  sense  of  the  value  of  property ;  and  we  find  the 
vividness  of  this  sense  to  vary  with  the  strength  of  the  im- 
pulse. Contrast  the  miser  and  the  spendthrift.  Accompany- 
ing his  desire  to  heap  up,  the  miser  has  a  peculiar  belief  in 
the  worth  of  money.  The  most  stringent  economy  he  thinks 
virtuous;  and  anything  like  ordinary  liberality  vicious; 
while  of  extravagance  he  has  an  absolute  horror.  Whatever 
adds  to  his  store  seems  to  him  good :  whatever  takes  from  it, 
bad.  And  should  a  passing  gleam  of  generosity  lead  him  to 


20  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

open  his  purse,  lie  is  pretty  sure  afterwards  to  reproach  him- 
self with  having  done  wrong.  Conversely,  while  the  spend- 
thrift is  deficient  in  the  instinct  of  acquisition,  he  also  fails 
to  realize  the  value  of  property  ;  he  has  little  sense  of  it. 
Hence,  under  the  influence  of  other  feelings,  he  regards  saving 
habits  as  mean  •  and  holds  that  there  is  something  noble  in 
profuseness.  Now  it  is  clear  that  these  opposite  perceptions 
of  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  certain  lines  of  conduct, 
do  not  originate  with  the  intellect,  but  with  the  emotional 
faculties.  The  intellect,  uninfluenced  by  desire,  would  show 
both  miser  and  spendthrift  that  their  habits  were  unwise ; 
whereas  the  intellect,  influenced  by  desire,  makes  each 
think  the  other  a  fool,  but  does  not  enable  him  to  see  his 
own  folly. 

This  connexion  is  general.  Every  feeling  is  accompanied 
by  a  sense  of  the  Tightness  of  those  actions  which  give  it 
gratification — tends  to  generate  convictions  that  things  are 
good  or  bad,  according  as  they  bring  to  it  pleasure  or 
pain ;  and  would  always  generate  such  convictions,  were 
it  unopposed.  As,  however,  there  are  conflicts  among 
the  feelings,  there  results  a  proportionate  incongruity  in 
the  beliefs — a  similar  conflict  amongst  these  also.  So 
that  it  is  only  where  a  desire  is  very  predominant,  or 
where  no  adverse  desire  exists,  that  this  connexion  be- 
tween the  instincts  and  the  opinions  they  dictate,  becomes 
distinctly  visible. 

Applied  to  the  elucidation  of  the  case  in  hand,  these  facts 
explain  how  from  an  impulse  to  behave  in  the  way  we  call 
equitable,  there  will  arise  &  perception  that  such  behaviour  is 
proper — a  conviction  that  it  is  good.  This  instinct  or  senti- 
ment, being  gratified  by  a  just  action  and  distressed  by  an 
unjust  action,  produces  in  us  an  approbation  of  the  one  and 
a  disgust  towards  the  other ;  and  these  readily  beget  beliefs 
that  the  one  is  virtuous  and  the  other  vicious.  Or,  referring 
again  to  the  illustration,  we  may  say  that  as  the  desire  to 
accumulate  property  is  accompanied  by  a  sense  of  the  value 


THE  MORAL-SENSE  DOCTRINE.  21 

of  property,  so  the  desire  to  act  fairly  is  accompanied  by  a 
sense  of  what  is  fair. 

It  will  perhaps  be  needful  here  to  meet  the  objection  that 
whereas,  according  to  the  foregoing  statement,  each  feeling 
tends  to  generate  notions  of  the  Tightness  or  wrongness  of 
actions  towards  which  it  is  related  ;  and  whereas  morality 
should  determine  what  is  right  throughout  conduct  at  large, 
it  is  improper  to  confine  the  term  "  moral  sense "  to  that 
which  can  afford  directions  in  only  one  department.  This  is 
true.  Nevertheless,  seeing  that  our  behaviour  towards  one 
another  is  the  most  important  part  of  our  behaviour,  and 
that  in  which  we  are  most  prone  to  err ;  seeing,  also,  that  this 
same  faculty  is  so  purely  and  immediately  moral  in  its  func- 
tion ;  we  may  with  some  show  of  reason  continue  to  employ 
that  term  with  this  restricted  meaning. 

Still  it  may  be  again  urged  that  the  alleged  monitor  is  a 
worthless  guide,  because  its  dictates  are  unlike  in  different 
times  and  places. 

To  this  the  reply  is,  as  before,  that  if  such  a  guide  is  unfit, 
because  its  dictates  are  variable,  then  must  Expediency  also 
be  rejected  for  the  same  reason.  If  Bentham  is  right  in 
condemning  Moral  Sense,  as  an  "  anarchical  and  capricious 
principle,  founded  solely  upon  internal  and  peculiar  feelings," 
then  is  his  own  maxim  doubly  fallacious.  Is  not  the  idea 
"  greatest  happiness,"  a  capricious  one  ?  Is  not  that  also 
"  founded  solely  upon  internal  and  peculiar  feelings  ? "  (See 
page  7.)  And  even  were  the  idea  "  greatest  happiness  "  alike 
in  all,  would  not  his  principle  be  still  "  anarchical,"  in  virtue 
of  the  countless  disagreements  as  to  the  means  of  achieving 
this  "  greatest  happiness  ? "  All  utilitarian  philosophies  are 
liable  to  this  charge  of  indefiniteness,  for  there  ever  recurs 
the  same  unsettled  question — what  is  utility  ? — a  question 
which,  as  every  newspaper  shows  us,  gives  rise  to  endless 
disputes,  both  as  to  the  goodness  of  each  desired  end  and  the 
efficiency  of  every  proposed  means.  At  the  worst,  therefore, 


22  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

in  so  far  as  want  of  scientific  precision  is  concerned,  a 
philosophy  founded  on  Moral  Sense,  simply  stands  in  the 
same  category  with  all  other  known  systems. 

But  happily  there  is  an  alternative.  The  force  of  the 
objection  above  set  forth  may  be  fully  admitted,  without  in 
any  degree  invalidating  the  theory. 

The  error  pointed  out  is  not  one  of  doctrine  but  of  applica- 
tion. Those  who  committed  it  did  not  start  from  a  wrong 
principle,  but  rather  missed  the  right  way  from  that  principle 
to  the  sought-for  conclusions.  It  was  not  in  the  oracle  to 
which  they  appealed,  but  in  their  method  of  interpretation, 
that  the  writers  of  the  Shaftesbury  school  erred.  Confound- 
ing the  functions  of  feeling  and  reason,  they  required  a  senti- 
ment to  do  that  which  should  have  been  left  to  the  intellect. 
They  were  right  in  believing  that  there  exists  some  governing 
instinct  generating  in  us  an  approval  of  certain  actions  we 
call  good,  and  a  repugnance  to  certain  others  we  call  bad. 
But  they  were  not  right  in  assuming  such  instinct  to  be 
capable  of  intuitively  solving  every  ethical  problem  submitted 
to  it.. 

For  the  better  explanation  of  this  point,  let  us  take  au 
analogy  from  mathematics.  The  human  mind  takes  cog- 
nizance of  measurable  quantity  by  a  faculty  which,  to  carry 
out  the  analogy,  let  us  term  a  geometric  sense.  By  the  help 
of  this  we  estimate  the  linear  dimensions,  surfaces,  and  bulks 
of  surrounding  objects,  and  form  ideas  of  their  relations 
to  one  another.  But,  in  many  cases,  we  find  that  little 
reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  unaided  decisions  of  this 
geometric  sense  :  its  dicta  are  variable.  On  comparing  notes, 
however,  we  discover  that  there  are  certain  simple  proposi- 
tions upon  which  we  all  think  alike,  such  as — "  Things 
which  are  equal  to  the  same  thing  are  equal  to  one  another ; " 
— "  The  whole  is  greater  than  its  part ; "  and,  agreeing  upon 
these  axioms,  as  we  call  them,  we  find  it  possible  by  success- 
ive deductions  to  settle  all  disputed  points,  and  to  solve 


THE  MORAL-SENSE  DOCTRINE.  23 

complicated  problems  with  certainty.*  Now  if,  instead  of 
adopting  this  method,  geometricians  had  persisted  in  deter- 
mining all  questions  concerning  lines,  angles,  squares,  circles, 
and  the  like,  by  the  geometric  sense — if  they  had  tried  to 
discover  whether  the  three  angles  of  a  triangle  are,  or  are 
not,  equal  to  two  right  angles,  and  whether  the  areas  of 
similiar  polygons  are,  or  are  not,  in  the  duplicate  ratio  of 
their  homologous  sides,  by  an  effort  of  simple  perception, 
they  would  have  made  the  same  mistake  that  moralists 
make,  who  try  to  solve  all  the  problems  of  morality  by  the 
moral  sense. 

The  reader  will  at  once  perceive  the  conclusion  towards 
which  this  analogy  points ;  namely,  that  as  it  is  the  office  of 
the  geometric  sense  to  originate  a  geometric  axiom,  so  it 
is  the  office  of  the  moral  sense  to  originate  a  moral  axiom, 
from  which  reason  may  develop  a  systematic  morality. 

And,  varying  the  illustration,  it  may  be  further  remarked 
that  just  as  erroneous  notions  in  mechanics — for  instance, 
that  large  bodies  fall  faster  than  small  ones,  that  water 

<5  ' 

rises  in  a  pump  by  suction,  that  perpetual  motion  is  pos- 
sible— formed  by  unaided  mechanical  sense,  are  set  aside  by 
the  conclusions  deduced  from  those  primary  laws  of  matter 
which  the  mechanical  sense  recognizes ;  so  may  we  expect 
the  multitudes  of  conflicting  beliefs  about  human  duty 
dictated  by  unaided  moral  sense,  to  disappear  before  the 
deductions  scientifically  drawn  from  some  primary  law  of 
man  which  the  moral  sense  recognizes. 

[NoTE. — It  should  be  remarked  that  though  in  this  chapter  there  is 
recognition  of  the  truth  that  the  judgments  of  the  moral  sense  are 
variable,  the  recognition  is  not  adequate.  The  facts  that  some  races  of 
men  appear  to  have  no  consciences  at  all  and  that  in  other  races  of  men 

*  Whether  we  adopt  the  views  of  Locke  or  of  Kant  as  to  the  ultimate 
nature  of  what  is  here,  for  analogy's  sake,  called  the  geometric  sense,  does 
not  affect  the  question.  However  originated,  the  fundamental  perceptions 
attaching  to  it  form  the  undecomposable  bases  of  exact  science.  And  this 
is  all  that  is  now  assumed. 


24:  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

conscience  gives  verdicts  quite  unlike,  and  sometimes  opposite  to,  the 
verdicts  it  gives  among  ourselves,  are  not  even  hinted.  The  evidences 
of  this  were  not  at  that  time  before  me.  To  prevent  misapprehension 
it  may  be  well  here  to  say  that  the  foregoing  views  concerning  the 
moral  sense  are  applicable  only  to  races  which  have  been  long  subject 
to  certain  kinds  of  discipline.] 


WHAT  IS  MOKALITY? 

IT  is  manifest  that  the  moral  law  must  be  the  law  of  the 
perfect  man — the  law  in  obedience  to  which  perfection 
consists.  There  are  but  two  propositions  for  us  to  choose 
between.  It  may  either  be  asserted  that  morality  is  a  code 
of  rules  for  the  behaviour  of  men  as  they  are ;  or,  otherwise, 
that  it  is  a  code  of  rules  for  the  behaviour  of  men  as 
they  should  be.  Of  the  first  alternative  we  must  say,  that 
any  proposed  system  of  morals  which  recognizes  existing 
defects,  and  countenances  acts  made  needful  by  them,  stands 
self-condemned ;  seeing  that,  by  the  hypothesis,  acts  thus 
excused  are  not  the  best  conceivable,  that  is,  are  not  per- 
fectly right — not  perfectly  moral,  and  therefore  a  morality 
which  permits  them,  is,  in  so  far  as  it  does  this,  not  a 
morality  at  all.  •  To  escape  from  this  contradiction  is  im- 
possible, save  by  adopting  the  other  alternative  ;  namely, 
that  the  moral  law,  ignoring  all  vicious  conditions,  defects, 
and  incapacities,  prescribes  the  conduct  of  an  ideal  humanity. 
Pure  rectitude  can  alone  be  its  subject  matter.  Its  object 
must  be  to  determine  the  relations  in  which  men  ought 
to  stand  to  one  another — to  point  out  the  principles  of 
action  in  a  normal  society.  It  must  aim  to  give  a  systematic 
statement  of  those  conditions  under  which  human  beings 
may  harmoniously  co-operate ;  and  to  tlys  end  it  requires 
as  its  postulate,  that  such  human  beings  be  perfect. 

Treating,  therefore,  as  it  does  on  the  abstract  principles  of 


26  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

right  conduct,  a  system  of  pure  ethics  cannot  recognize  evil, 
or  any  of  those  conditions  which  evil  generates.  It  knows 
no  such  thing  as  an  infraction  of  the  laws,  for  it  is  merely  a 
statement  of  what  the  laws  are.  It  simply  says,  such  and 
such  are  the  principles  on  which  men  should  act ;  and  when 
these  are  broken  it  can  do  nothing  but  say  that  they  are 
broken.  If  asked  what  ought  any  one  to  do  when  another 
has  knocked  him  down,  it  will  not  tell :  it  can  only  answer 
that  an  assault  is  a  trespass  against  the  law,  and  gives  rise  to 
a  wrong  relation.  It  is  silent  as  to  the  manner  in  which  we 
should  behave  to  a  thief :  all  the  information  it  affords 
is,  that  theft  is  a  breach  of  rectitude.  We  may  learn  from- 
it  that  debt  implies  an  infraction  of  the  moral  code  ;  but 
whether  the  debtor  should  or  should  not  be  imprisoned, 
cannot  be  decided  by  it.  To  all  questions  which  presuppose 
some  antecedent  unlawful  action,  such  as — Should  a  barris- 
ter defend  any  one  whom  he  believes  to  be  guilty  ?  Ought 
a  man  to  break  an  oath  which  he  has  taken  to  do  something 
wrong?  Is  it  proper  to  publish  the  misconduct  of  our 
fellows  ? — the  perfect  law  can  give  no  reply,  because  it  does 
not  recognize  the  premises.  In  seeking  to  settle  such  points 
on  purely  ethical  principles,  moralists  have  attempted  impos- 
sibilities. As  well  might  they  have  tried  to  solve  mathe. 
matically  a  series  of  problems  respecting  crooked  lines  and 
broken-backed  curves,  or  to  deduce  from  the  theorems  of 
mechanics  the  proper  method  of  setting  to  work  a  dislocated 
machine.  No  conclusions  can  lay  claim  to  absolute  truth  but 
such  as  depend  upon  truths  which  are  themselves  absolute. 
A  geometrician  requires  that  the  straight  lines  with  which 
he  deals  shall  be  veritably  straight ;  and  that  his  circles,  and 
ellipses,  and  parabolas,  shall  agree  with  precise  definitions. 
If  you  put  to  him  a  question  in  which  these  conditions  are 
not  complied  with,  he  tells  you  that  it  cannot  be  answered. 
So  likewise  is  it  with  the  philosophical  moralist.  He  treats 
solely  of  the  straight  man.  He  describes  how  the  straight 
man  comports  himself ;  shows  in  what  relation  he  stands  to 


WHAT  IS  MORALITY!  27 

other  straight  men ;  shows  how  a  community  of  straight  men 
is  constituted.  A  problem  in  which  a  crooked  man  forms  one 
of  the  elements  is  insoluble  by  him.  He  may  state  what  he 
thinks  about  it — may  give  an  approximate  solution  ;  but  any- 
thing more  is  impossible. 

Or  perhaps  the  point  may  be  most  conveniently  enforced, 
by  using  the  science  of  the  animal  man  to  illustrate  that  of 
the  moral  man.  Physiology  is  defined  as  a  classified  state- 
ment of  the  phenomena  of  bodily  life.  It  treats  of  the 
functions  of  our  several  organs  in  their  normal  states.  It 
exhibits  the  mutual  dependence  of  the  vital  actions ;  and 
describes  the  condition  of  things  constituting  perfect  health. 
Disease  it  does  not  even  recognize,  and  can  therefore  solve 
no  questions  concerning  it.  To  the  inquiry — What  is  the 
cause  of  fever  ?  or,  what  is  the  best  remedy  for  a  cold  ? 
it  gives  no  answer.  Such  matters  are  out  of  its  sphere. 
Could  it  reply  it  would  be  no  longer  Physiology,  but  Pa- 
thology or  Therapeutics.  Just  so  it  is  with  a  true  morality, 
which  might  properly  enough  be  called — Moral  Physiology. 
Like  its  analogue,  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  morbid  actions 
and  deranged  functions.  It  deals  only  with  the  laws  of  a 
normal  humanity,  and  cannot  recognize  a  wrong,  a  depraved, 
or  a  disordered  condition. 


THE   EYANESCENCE  [?  DIMINUTION]   OF  EYIL. 

ALL  evil  results  from  the  non-adaptation  of  constitution  to 
conditions.  Does  a  shrub  dwindle  in  poor  soil,  or  become 
sickly  when  deprived  of  light,  or  die  outright  if  removed  to  a 
cold  climate  ?  it  is  because  the  harmony  between  its  organi- 
zation and  its  circumstances  has  been  destroyed.  Those 
experiences  of  the  farm-yard  and  the  menagerie  which  show 
that  pain,  disease,  and  death,  are  entailed  upon  animals 
by  certain  kinds  of  treatment,  may  be  similarly  generalized. 
Every  suffering  incident  to  the  human  body,  from  a  headache 
up  to  a  fatal  illness,  from  a  burn  or  a  sprain  up  to  accidental 
loss  of  life,  is  similarly  traceable  to  the  having  placed  that 
body  in  a  situation  for  which  its  powers  did  not  fit  it. 
Nor  is  the  expression  confined  in  its  application  to  physical 
evil.  Is  the  bachelor  unhappy  because  his  means  will  not 
permit  him  to  marry?  does  the  mother  mourn  over  her 
lost  child?  does  the  emigrant  lament  leaving  his  father- 
land ?  The  explanation  is  still  the  same.  No  matter  what 
the  special  nature  of  the  evil,  it  is  invariably  referable  to  the 
one  generic  cause — want  of  congruity  between  the  faculties 
and  their  spheres  of  action. 

Equally  true  is  it  that  evil  perpetually  tends  to  disappear. 
In  virtue  of  an  essential  principle  of  life,  this  non-adaptation 
of  an  organism  to  its  conditions  is  ever  being  rectified ; 
and  modification  of  one  or  both,  continues  until  the  adap- 
tation is  complete.  Whatever  possesses  vitality,  from  the 
elementary  cell  up  to  man  himself,  inclusive,  obeys  this  law. 


THE  EVANESCENCE  [?  DIMINUTION]  OF  EVIL.         29 

"We  see  it  illustrated  in  the  acclimatization  of  plants,  in 
the  altered  habits  of  domesticated  animals,  in  the  varying 
characteristics  of  our  own  race.  Accustomed  to  the  brief 
arctic  summer,  the  Siberian  herbs  and  shrubs  spring  up, 
flower,  and  ripen  their  seeds,  in  the  space  of  a  few  weeks.  If 
exposed  to  the  rigour  of  northern  winters,  animals  of  the  tem- 
perate zone  get  thicker  coats,  and  become  white.  The  grey- 
hound which,  when  first  transported  to  the  high  plateaus  of 
the  Andes,  fails  in  the  chase  from  want  of  breath,  acquires, 
in  the  course  of  generations,  a  more  efficient  pair  of  lungs. 

Man  exhibits  the  same  adaptability.  He  alters  in  colour 
according  to  habitat — lives  here  upon  rice  and  there  upon 
whale  oil — gets  larger  digestive  organs  if  he  habitually  eats 
innutritions  food — acquires  the  power  of  long  fasting  if  his 
mode  of  life  is  irregular,  and  loses  it  when  the  supply  of  food 
is  certain — attains  acute  vision,  hearing,  and  scent,  when  his 
habits  of  life  call  for  them,  and  gets  these  senses  blunted 
when  they  are  less  needful.  That  such  changes  are  towards 
fitness  for  surrounding  circumstances  no  one  can  question. 
AVlien  he  sees  that  the  dweller  in  marshes  lives  in  an 
atmosphere  which  is  certain  death  to  a  stranger — when  he 
sees  that  the  Hindoo  can  lie  down  and  sleep  under  a  tropical 
sun,  while  his  white  master  with  closed  blinds,  and  water 
sprinklings,  and  punkah,  can  hardly  get  a  doze — when  he 
sees  that  the  Greenlander  and  the  Neapolitan  subsist  com- 
fortably on  their  respective  foods — blubber  and  macaroni, 
but  would  be  made  miserable  by  an  interchange  of  them — 
when  he  sees  that  in  other  cases  there  is  still  this  fitness  to 
diet,  to  climate,  and  to  modes  of  life,  even  the  most  sceptical 
must  admit  that  some  law  of  adaptation  is  at  work.  In  the 
drunkard  who  needs  an  increasing  quantity  of  spirits  to 
intoxicate  him,  and  in  the  opium  eater  who  has  to  keep 
taking  a  larger  dose  to  produce  the  usual  effect,  he  may  mark 
how  the  system  gradually  acquires  power  to  resist  what  is 
noxious.  Those  who  smoke,  who  take  snuff,  or  who  habit- 
ually use  medicines,  can  furnish  like  illustrations. 
3 


30  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

This  universal  law  of  physical  modification,  is  the  law  of 
mental  modification  also.  The  multitudinous  differences  of 
capacity  and  disposition  which  have,  in  course  of  time,  grown 
up  between  the  Indian,  African,  Mongolian,  and  Caucasian 
races,  and  between  the  various  subdivisions  of  them,  must  all 
be  ascribed  to  the  acquirement  in  each  case  of  fitness  for  sur 
rounding  circumstances.  Why  all  this  divergence  from  the 
one  original  type?  If  adaptation  of  constitution  to  con- 
ditions is  not  the  cause,  what  is  the  cause  ? 

There  are  none,  however,  who  can  with  anything  like  con- 
sistency combat  this  doctrine  ;  for  all  use  arguments  that  pre- 
suppose its  truth.  They  do  this  when  they  attribute  differ- 
ences of  national  character  to  differences  in  social  customs  and 
arrangements ;  and  again  when  they  comment  on  the  force 
of  habit ;  and  again  when  they  discuss  the  probable  influence 
of  a  proposed  measure  upon  public  morality ;  and  again 
when  they  recommend  practice  as  a  means  of  acquiring 
increased  aptitude ;  and  again  when  they  describe  certain 
pursuits  as  elevating  and  others  as  degrading  ;  and  again 
when  they  talk  of  getting  used  to  anything ;  and  again  when 
they  teach  that  virtuous  conduct  eventually  becomes  pleas- 
urable, or  when  they  warn  against  the  power  of  a  long-en- 
couraged vice. 

"We  must  adopt  one  of  three  propositions.  "We  must 
either  affirm  that  the  human  being  is  unaltered  by  the  in- 
fluences brought  to  bear  on  him — his  circumstances  ;  or  that 
he  tends  to  become  -zmfitted  to  those  circumstances ;  or  that 
he  tends  to  become  fitted  to  them.  If  the  first  be  true,  then 
all  schemes  of  education,  of  government,  of  social  reform  are 
useless.  If  the  second  be  true,  then  the  way  to  make  a  man 
virtuous  is  to  accustom  him  to  vicious  practices,  and  vice 
versa.  Both  of  which  propositions  being  absurd,  we  are  im- 
pelled to  admit  the  remaining  one. 
/ 

Keeping  in  mind  these  truths,  that  all  evil  results  from 
*he  non-adaptation  of  constitution  to  conditions;  and  that 


THE  EVANESCENCE  [?  DIMINUTION]  OF  EVIL.          31 

where  this  non-adaptation  exists  it  is  continually  being  dimin- 
ished by  the  changing  of  constitution  to  suit  conditions ;  we 
shall  be  prepared  for  comprehending  the  present  position  of 
the  human  race. 

By  the  increase  of  population  the  state  of  existence  we  call 
social  has  been  necessitated.  Men  living  in  this  state  suffer 
under  numerous  evils.  By  the  hypothesis  it  follows  that 
their  characters  are  not  completely  adapted  to  such  a  state. 

In  what  respect  are  they  not  so  adapted  ?  what  is  the  special 
qualification  which  the  social  state  requires  ? 

It  requires  that  each  individual  shall  have  such  desires 
only,  as  may  be  fully  satisfied  without  trenching  upon  the 
ability  of  other  individuals  to  obtain  like  satisfactions.  If 
the  desires  of  each  are  not  thus  limited,  then  either  all  must 
have  certain  of  their  desires  ungratified ;  or  some  must  get 
gratification  for  them  at  the  expense  of  others.  Both  of 
which  alternatives,  necessitating  pain,  imply  non-adapta- 
tion. 

But  why  is  not  man  adapted  to  the  social  state  ? 

Simply  because  he  yet  partially  retains  the  characteristics 
appropriate  to  an  antecedent  state.  The  respects  in  which  he 
is  not  fitted  to  society,  are  the  respects  in  which  he  is  fitted 
for  his  original  predatory  life.  His  primitive  circumstances 
required  that  he  should  sacrifice  the  welfare  of  other  beings 
to  his  own ;  his  present  circumstances  require  that  he  shall 
not  do  so ;  and  in  so  far  as  his  old  attribute  still  clings  to 
him,  he  is  unfit  for  the  social  state.  All  sins  of  men  against 
one  another,  from  the  cannibalism  of  the  Fijian  to  the  crimes 
and  venalities  we  see  around  us ;  the  felonies  which  fill  our 
prisons,  the  trickeries  of  trade,  the  quarrellings  of  class  with 
class  and  of  nation  with  nation,  have  their  causes  compre- 
hended under  this  generalization. 

Man  needed  one  moral  constitution  to  fit  him  for  his  ori- 
ginal state  ;  he  needs  another  to  fit  him  for  his  present  state  ; 
and  he  has  been,  is,  and  will  long  continue  to  be,  in  process 
of  adaptation.  And  the  belief  in  human  perfectibility  merely 


32  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

amounts  to  the  belief  that,  in  virtue  of  this  process,  man  will 
eventually  become  completely  suited  to  his  mode  of  life. 

Progress,  therefore,  is  not  an  accident,  but  a  necessity. 
Instead  of  civilization  being  artificial  it  is  a  part  of  nature ; 
all  of  a  piece  with  the  development  of  an  embryo  or  the  un- 
folding of  a  flower.  The  modifications  mankind  have  under- 
gone, and  are  still  undergoing,  result  from  a  law  underlying 
the  whole  organic  creation ;  and  provided  the  human  race 
continues,  and  the  constitution  of  things  remains  the  same, 
those  modifications  must  end  in  completeness.  As  surely  as 
the  tree  becomes  bulky  when  it  stands  alone,  and  slender  if 
one  of  a  group ;  as  surely  as  a  blacksmith's  arm  grows  large, 
and  the  skin  of  a  laborer's  hand  thick  ;  as  surely  as  the  eye 
tends  to  become  long-sighted  in  the  sailor,  and  short-sighted 
in  the  student ;  as  surely  as  a  clerk  acquires  rapidity  in  writ- 
ing and  calculation  ;  as  surely  as  the  musician  learns  to  detect 
an  error  of  a  semitone  amidst  what  seems  to  others  a  very 
babel  of  sounds ;  as  surely  as  a  passion  grows  by  indulgence 
and  diminishes  when  restrained ;  as  surely  as  a  disregarded 
conscience  becomes  inert,  and  one  that  is  obeyed  active ;  as 
surely  as  there  is  any  meaning  in  such  terms  as  habit,  custom, 
practice ; — so  surely  must  the  human  faculties  be  moulded 
into  complete  fitness  for  the  social  state ;  so  surely  must  evil 
and  immorality  disappear ;  so  surely  must  man  become  perfect. 

[NOTE. — With  the  exception  of  small  verbal  improvements,  I  have 
let  this  chapter  stand  unaltered,  though  it  is  now  clear  to  me  that  the 
conclusions  drawn  in  it  should  be  largely  qualified.  1.  Various  races 
of  mankind,  inhabiting  bad  habitats,  and  fcbliged  to  lead  miserable 
lives,  cannot  by  any  amount  of  adaptation  be  moulded  into  satisfactory 
types.  2.  Astronomical  and  geological  changes  must  continue  here- 
after to  cause  such  changes  of  surface  and  climate  as  must  entail  migra- 
tions from  habitats  rendered  unfit  to  fitter  habitats  ;  and  such  migra- 
tions must  entail  modified  modes  of  life,  with  consequent  re-adapta- 
tions. 3.  The  rate  of  progress  towards  any  adapted  form  must  diminish 
with  the  approach  to  complete  adaptation,  since  the  force  producing  it 
must  diminish  ;  so  that,  other  causes  apart,  perfect  adaptation  can  be 
reached  only  in  infinite  time.] 


GREATEST  HAPPINESS  MUST  BE  SOUGHT 
INDIRECTLY. 

IT  is  for  us  to  ascertain  the  conditions  by  conforming  to 
which  greatest  happiness  may  be  attained.  Unquestionably 
there  must  be  in  the  nature  of  things  some  definite  and  fixed 
pre-requisites  to  success.  Man  is  a  visible,  tangible  entity, 
having  properties.  In  the  circumstances  which  surround 
him  there  are  unchanging  necessities.  Life  depends  on  the 
fulfilment  of  certain  functions ;  and  happiness  is  a  particular 
kind  of  life.  Surely,  then,  if  we  would  know  how,  in  the 
midst  of  these  circumstances,  the  being  Man  must  live  so 
as  to  achieve  greatest  happiness,  we  ought  first  to  determine 
what  the  essential  conditions  are.  To  suppose  that  we  may, 
in  ignorance  or  disregard  of  them,  succeed  by  some  hap- 
hazard speculation,  is  folly.  Only  in  one  way  can  the  de- 
sideratum be  reached.  What  that  one  way  is  must  depend 
on  the  fundamental  necessities  of  our  position.  And  if  we 
would  discover  it,  our  first  step  must  be  to  ascertain  those 
necessities. 

At  the  head  of  them  stands  this  unalterable  fact — the  so- 
cial state.  Men  have  multiplied  until  they  are  constrained  to 
live  more  or  less  in  presence  of  one  another.  That,  as  being 
needful  for  the  support  of  the  greatest  sum  of  life,  such  a 
condition  is  preliminary  to  the  production  of  the  greatest  sum 
of  happiness,  seems  highly  probable.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
however,  we  find  this  state  established ;  are  henceforth  to 
continue  in  it ;  and  must  therefore  set  it  down  as  one  of  those 


34  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

necessities  which  our  rules  for  the  achievement  of  the  greatest 
happiness  must  recognize  and  conform  to. 

In  this  social  state  the  sphere  of  activity  of  each  individ- 
ual being  limited  by  the  spheres  of  activity  of  other  indi- 
viduals, it  follows  that  the  men  who  are  to  realize  this  great- 
est sum  of  happiness,  must  be  men  of  whom  each  can  obtain 
complete  happiness  within  his  own  sphere  of  activity,  with- 
out diminishing  the  spheres  of  activity  required  for  the  acqui- 
sition of  happiness  by  others.  For,  manifestly,  if  each  or  any 
of  them  cannot  receive  complete  happiness  without  lessening 
the  spheres  of  activity  of  one  or  more  of  the  rest,  he  must 
either  himself  come  short  of  complete  happiness,  or  must 
make  one  or  more  do  so ;  and  hence,  under  such  circum- 
stances, the  sum  total  of  happiness  cannot  be  as  great  as  is 
conceivable,  or  cannot  be  greatest  happiness.  Here,  then,  is 
the  first  of  those  fixed  conditions  to  the  obtainment  of  great- 
est happiness,  necessitated  by  the  social  state.  It  is  the  fulfil- 
ment of  this  condition  which  we  express  by  the  word  justice. 

To  this  all-essential  pre-requisite  there  is  a  supplementary 
one  of  kindred  nature.  We  find  that  without  trenching  upon 
one  another's  spheres  of  activity,  men  may  yet  behave  to  one 
another  in  such  ways  as  to  produce  painful  emotions.  And 
if  any  have  feelings  which  lead  them  to  do  this,  it  is  clear 
that  the  total  amount  of  happiness  is  not  so  great  as  it  would 
be  were  they  devoid  of  those  feelings.  Hence,  to  compass 
greatest  happiness,  the  human  constitution  must  be  such  that 
each  man  may  fulfil  his  own  nature,  not  only  without  dimin- 
ishing other  men's  spheres  of  activity,  but  without  inflicting 
unhappiness  on  other  men  in  any  direct  or  indirect  way. 
This  condition,  as  we  shall  by-and-by  see,  needs  to  be  kept 
quite  distinct  from  the  foregoing  one.  The  observance  of  it 
may  be  called  negative  beneficence. 

Yet  another  requirement  there  is  by  fulfilment  of  which 
the  happiness  flowing  from  compliance  with  the  foregoing 
ones  is  indefinitely  increased.  Let  a  race  of  beings  be  so 
constituted  that  each  may  be  able  to  obtain  full  satisfaction 


GKEATEST  HAPPINESS  MUST  BE  SOUGHT  INDIRECTLY.  35 

for  all  his  desires,  without  deducting  from  the  satisfactions 
obtainable  by  others,  and  we  have  a  state  of  things  in  which 
the  amount  of  isolated  happiness  is  the  greatest  conceivable. 
But  let  these  beings  be  so  constituted  that  each,  in  addition  to 
the  pleasurable  emotions  personally  received  by  him,  can  sym- 
pathetically participate  in  the  pleasurable  emotions  of  others, 
and  the  sum-total  of  happiness  becomes  largely  augmented. 
Hence,  to  the  primary  requisite  that  each  shall  be  able  to  get 
complete  happiness  without  diminishing  the  happiness  of  the 
rest,  we  must  now  add  the  secondary  one  that  each  shall  be 
capable  of  receiving  happiness  from  the  happiness  of  the  rest. 
Compliance  with  this  requisite  im plies  positive  beneficence. 

Lastly,  there  must  go  to  the  production  of  the  greatest 
happiness  the  further  condition,  that,  whilst  duly  regardful 
of  the  preceding  limitations,  each  individual  shall  perform  all 
those  acts  required  to  fill  up  the  measure  of  his  own  private 
happiness. 

These  then  are  necessities.  They  are  not  matters  of  opin- 
ion, but  matters  of  fact.  Denial  of  them  is  impossible,  for 
nothing  else  can  be  stated  but  what  is  self -contradictory. 
Schemes  of  government  and  culture  which  ignore  them,  can- 
not but  be  essentially  absurd.  Everything  must  be  good  or 
bad,  right  or  wrong,  in  virtue  of  its  accordance  or  discord- 
ance with  them.  Our  whole  code  of  duty  is  comprehended 
in  the  endeavour  to  live  up  to  these  necessities.  If  we  find 
pleasure  in  doing  this  it  is  well ;  if  not,  our  aim  must  be  to 
acquire  that  pleasure.  Greatest  happiness  is  obtained  only 
when  conformity  to  them  is  spontaneous ;  seeing  that  the 
restraint  of  desires  inciting  to  trespass  implies  pain,  or  deduc- 
tion from  greatest  happiness.  Hence  it  is  for  us  to  habituate 
ourselves  to  fulfil  these  requirements  as  fast  as  we  can.  The 
social  state  is  a  necessity.  The  conditions  to  greatest  happi- 
ness under  that  state  are  fixed.  Our  characters  are  the  only 
things  not  fixed.  They,  then,  must  be  moulded  into  fitness 
for  the  conditions.  And  all  moral  teaching  and  discipline 
must  have  for  its  object  to  hasten  this  process. 


DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE. 

IF  men  have  like  claims  to  that  freedom  which  is  needful 
for  the  exercise  of  their  faculties,  then  must  the  freedom  of 
each  be  bounded  by  the  similar  freedoms  of  all.  When,  in 
the  pursuit  of  their  respective  ends,  two  individuals  clash,  the 
movements  of  the  one  remain  free  only  in  so  far  as  they  do 
not  interfere  with  the  like  movements  of  the  other.  This 
sphere  of  existence  into  which,  we  are  thrown,  not  affording 
room  for  the  unrestrained  activity  of  all,  and  yet  all  possess- 
ing in  virtue  of  their  constitutions  similar  claims  to  such  un- 
restrained activity,  there  is  no  course  but  to  apportion  the 
unavoidable  restraint  equally.  Wherefore  we  arrive  at  the 
general  proposition,  that  every  man  may  claim  the  fullest 
liberty  to  exercise  his  faculties  compatible  with  the  possession 
of  like  liberty  by  every  other  man. 

Upon  a  partial  consideration  this  statement  of  the  law  will 
perhaps  seem  open  to  criticism.  It  may  be  thought  better  to 
limit  the  right  of  each  to  exercise  his  faculties,  by  the  pro- 
viso that  he  shall  not  hurt  any  one  else — shall  not  inflict 
pain  on  any  one  else.  But  although  at  first  sight  satisfac- 
tory, this  expression  of  the  law  allows  of  erroneous  deductions. 
It  is  true  that  men,  who  fulfil  those  conditions  to  greatest 
happiness  set  forth  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  cannot  exer- 
cise their  faculties  to  the  aggrieving  of  one  another.  It  is 
not,  however,  that  each  avoids  giving  pain  by  refraining  from 
the  full  exercise  of  his  faculties ;  but  it  is  that  the  faculties 


DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE.  37 

of  each  are  such  that  the  full  exercise  of  them  offends  no  one. 
And  herein  lies  the  difference.  The  giving  of  pain  may  have 
two  causes.  Either  the  abnormally-constituted  man  may  do 
something  displeasing  to  the  normal  feelings  of  his  neigh- 
bours, in  which  case  he  acts  wrongly ;  or  the  behaviour  of 
the  normally-constituted  man  may  irritate  the  abnormal  feel- 
ings of  his  neighbours,  in  which  case  it  is  not  his  behav- 
iour that  is  wrong,  but  their  characters  that  are  so.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  due  exercise  of  his  faculties  is  right, 
although  it  gives  pain ;  and  the  remedy  for  the  evil  lies  in 
the  modification  of  those  abnormal  feelings  to  which  pain  is 
given. 

To  elucidate  this  distinction  let  us  take  a  few  illustrations. 
An  honest  man  discovers  some  friend,  of  whom  he  had  pre- 
viously thought  well,  to  be  a  rogue  He  has  certain  high 
instincts  to  which  roguery  is  repugnant ;  and,  allowing  free 
play  to  these,  he  drops  the  acquaintanceship  of  this  unworthy 
one.  Now,  though  in  doing  so  he  gives  pain,  it  does  not 
follow  that  he  transgresses  the  law.  The  evil  must  be  as- 
cribed, not  to  an  undue  exercise  of  faculties  by  him,  but  to 
the  immorality  of  the  man  who  suffers.  Again,  a  Protestant 
in  a  Roman  Catholic  country  refuses  to  uncover  his  head  on 
the  passing  of  the  host.  In  so  obeying  the  promptings  of 
certain  sentiments,  he  annoys  the  spectators ;  and  were  the 
above  modified  expression  of  the  law  correct,  would  be  blame- 
able.  The  fault,  however,  is  not  with  him,  but  with  those 
who  are  offended.  It  is  not  that  he  is  culpable  in  thus  testi- 
fying to  his  belief,  but  it  is  that  they  ought  not  to  have  so 
tyrannical  an  intolerance  of  other  opinions  than  their  own. 
Or  again,  a  son,  to  the  great  displeasure  of  his  father  and 
family,  marries  one  who,  though  in  all  respects  admirable,  is 
dowerless.  In  thus  obeying  the  dictates  of  his  nature,  he  may 
entail  considerable  distress  of  mind  on  his  relatives ;  but  it 
does  not  follow  that  his  conduct  is  bad ;  it  follows,  rather, 
that  the  feelings  which  his  conduct  has  wounded  are  bad. 

Hence  we  see  that  in  hourly-occurring  cases  like  these,  to 


38  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

limit  the  exercise  of  faculties  by  the  necessity  of  not  giving 
pain  to  others,  would  be  to  stop  the  proper  exercise  of  facul- 
ties in  some  persons,  for  the  purpose  of  allowing  the  improper 
exercise  of  faculties  in  the  rest.  Moreover,  the  observance 
of  such  a  rule  does  not,  in  reality,  prevent  pain.  For  though 
he  who  is  restrained  by  it  avoids  inflicting  suffering  on  his 
fellows,  he  does  so  at  the  expense  of  suffering  to  himself.  The 
evil  must  be  borne  by  some  one,  and  the  question  is  by  whom. 
Shall  the  Protestant,  by  showing  reverence  for  what  he  does 
not  revere,  tell  a  virtual  lie,  and  thus  do  violence  to  his  con- 
scientious feeling  that  he  may  avoid  vexing  the  intolerant 
spirit  of  his  Catholic  neighbours  ?  or  shall  he  give  the  rein 
to  his  own  healthy  sincerity  and  independence,  and  offend 
their  unhealthy  bigotry  ?  Shall  the  honest  man  repress  those 
sentiments  that  make  him  honest,  lest  the  exhibition  of  them 
should  give  pain  to  a  rogue  ?  or  shall  he  respect  his  own 
nobler  feelings,  and  hurt  the  other's  baser  ones  ?  Between 
these  alternatives  no  one  can  well  pause.  And  here  indeed 
we  get  down  to  the  root  of  the  matter.  For  be  it  remem- 
bered the  universal  law  of  life  is,  that  the  exercise  or  gratifi- 
cation of  faculties  strengthens  them  ;  while,  contrariwise,  the 
curbing  or  inflicting  pain  on  them,  entails  a  diminution  of 
their  power.  And  hence  it  follows  that  when  the  action  of 
a  normal  faculty  is  checked,  to  prevent  pain  being  given  to 
the  abnormal  faculties  of  others,  those  abnormal  faculties 
remain  as  active  as  they  were,  and  the  normal  one  becomes 
weaker  or  abnormal.  Whereas  under  converse  circumstances 
the  normal  one  remains  strong,  and  the  abnormal  ones  are 
weakened,  or  made  more  normal.  In  the  one  case  the  pain 
is  detrimental,  because  it  retards  the  approximation  to  that 
form  of  human  nature  under  which  the  faculties  of  each  may 
be  fully  exercised  without  displeasure  to  the  like  faculties  of 
all.  In  the  other  case  the  pain  is  beneficial,  because  it  aids 
the  approximation  to  that  form.  Thus,  that  first  expression 
of  the  law  which  arises  immediately  from  the  conditions  to 
social  existence,  turns  out  to  be  the  true  one  :  any  such  modi- 


DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE.  39 

fication  of  it  as  the  above,  necessitating  conduct  that  is  in 
many  cases  mischievous. 

And  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  when  to  express  the  law  by 
saying  that  every  man  has  full  liberty  to  exercise  his  facul- 
ties, provided  always  he  does  not  trench  upon  the  similar 
liberty  of  any  other,  we  commit  ourselves  to  an  imperfection 
of  an  opposite  character ;  and  we  find  that  there  are  many 
cases  in  which  the  above  modified  expression  answers  better. 
Various  ways  exist  in  which  the  faculties  may  be  exercised 
to  the  aggrieving  of  other  persons,  without  the  law  of  equal 
freedom  being  overstepped.  A  man  may  behave  unamiably, 
may  use  harsh  language,  may  annoy  by  disgusting  habits; 
and  whoso  thus  offends  the  normal  feelings  of  his  fellows, 
manifestly  diminishes  happiness.  If  we  say  that  every  one 
is  free  to  exercise  'his  faculties  so  long  only  as  he  does  not 
inflict  pain  upon  any  one  else,  we  forbid  all  such  conduct. 
Whereas  if  we  simply  limit  the  liberty  of  each  by  the  like 
liberties  of  all,  we  do  not  forbid  it ;  seeing  that  he  who 
exercises  his  faculties  in  this  way,  does  not  hinder  others 
from  exercising  theirs  in  the  same  way,  and  to  the  same  ex- 
tent. How,  then,  are  we  to  escape  from  this  difficulty? 
Neither  statement  of  the  law  quite  fulfils  our  requirement, 
and  yet  we  must  choose  one  of  them.  Which  must  it  be, 
and  why  ? 

It  must  be  the  original  one,  and  for  a  very  good  reason. 
Limiting  the  liberty  of  each  by  the  like  liberties  of  all,  ex- 
cludes a  wide  range  of  improper  actions,  but  it  does  not 
exclude  certain  other  improper  ones.  Limiting  the  liberty 
of  each  by  the  necessity  of  not  giving  pain  to  the  rest,  excludes 
the  whole  of  these  improper  actions,  but  excludes  along  with 
them  many  others  that  are  proper.  The  one  does  not  cut  off 
enough  ;  the  other  cuts  off  too  much.  The  one  is  negatively 
erroneous ;  the  other  is  positively  so.  Evidently,  then,  we 
must  adopt  the  negatively  erroneous  one,  seeing  that  its 
shortcomings  may  be  made  good  by  a  supplementary  law. 
And  here  we  find  the  need  for  that  distinction  lately  drawn 


40  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

between  justice  and  negative  beneficence.  Justice  imposes 
upon  the  exercise  of  faculties  a  primary  series  of  limitations, 
which  is  strictly  true  as  far  as  it  goes.  Negative  beneficence 
imposes  a  secondary  series.  It  is  no  defect  in  the  first  of 
these  that  it  does  not  include  the  last.  The  two  are,  in  the 
main,  distinct;  and,  as  we  have  just  seen,  the  attempt  to 
unite  them  under  one  expression  leads  us  into  fatal  errors. 

Yet  another  objection  will  probably  be  started.  By  full 
liberty  to  exercise  the  faculties,  is  meant  full  liberty  to  do  all 
that  the  faculties  prompt,  or,  in  other  words,  to  do  all  that 
the  individual  wills ;  and  it  may  be  said  that  if  the  individual 
is  free  to  do  all  that  he  wills,  provided  he  does  not  trespass 
upon  certain  specified  claims  of  others,  then  he  is  free  to  do 
things  which  are  injurious  to  himself — is  free  to  get  drunk, 
for  instance.  To  this  it  must  in  the  first  place  be  replied,  as 
above,  that  while  the  law  now  laid  down  forbids  a  certain 
class  of  actions  as  immoral,  it  does  not  recognize  all  kinds  of 
immorality — that  the  restriction  it  puts  on  the  free  exercise 
of  faculties,  though  the  chief,  is  not  the  sole  restriction,  and 
must  be  received  without  prejudice  to  further  ones.  Of  the 
need  for  such  further  ones,  the  difficulty  here  raised  furnishes 
a  second  instance. 

Mark  now,  however,  that  these  supplementary  restrictions 
are  of  inferior  authority  to  the  original  law.  Instead  of 
being,  like  it,  capable  of  scientific  development,  they  can  be 
unfolded  only  into  superior  forms  of  expediency.  The  limit 
put  to  each  man's  freedom  by  the  like  freedom  of  every 
other  man,  is  a  limit  almost  always  possible  of  ascertainment ; 
for  the  respective  amounts  of  freedom  men  assume  can  usu- 
ally be  compared,  and  the  equality  or  inequality  of  those 
amounts  recognized.  But  when  we  set  about  drawing  prac- 
tical deductions  from  the  propositions  that  a  man  is  not  at 
liberty  to  do  things  injurious  to  himself,  and  that  he  is  not  at 
liberty  (except  in  cases  like  those  lately  cited)  to  do  what 
may  give  unhappiness  to  his  neighbours,  we  find  ourselves 


DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE.  41 

involved  in  complicated  estimates  of  pleasures  and  pains,  to 
the  obvious  peril  of  our  conclusions.  For  example,  though 
it  is  manifest  that  to  get  drunk  is  an  injurious  exercise  of 
faculties,  it  is  by  no  means  manifest  how  much  work  is  proper 
for  us,  and  when  work  becomes  detrimental ;  it  is  by  no 
means  manifest  where  lies  the  line  between  due  and  undue 
intellectual  activity ;  it  is  by  no  means  manifest  what  amount 
of  advantage  will  justify  a  man  in  submitting  to  unsuitable 
climate  and  mode  of  life ;  and  yet  in  each  of  these  cases  hap- 
piness is  at  stake,  and  the  wrong  course  is  wrong  for  the 
same  reason  that  drunkenness  is  so.  Even  were  it  possible 
to  say  of  each  private  action  whether  the  resulting  gratifica- 
tion did  or  did  not  preponderate  over  the  resulting  suffering, 
there  would  still  present  itself  this  second  difficulty,  that  we 
cannot  in  all  cases  distinguish  suffering  which  is  detrimental, 
from  suffering  which  is  beneficial.  While  we  are  as  yet  im- 
perfectly adapted  to  our  conditions,  pain  must  inevitably 
arise  from  the  repression  of  faculties  that  are  too  active,  and 
from  the  overtasking  of  those  that  are  not  equal  to  their 
duties ;  and,  as  being  needful  to  the  development  of  the  ulti- 
mate man,  such  pain  cannot  be  held  damnatory  of  the  actions 
causing  it.  Thus,  referring  again  to  the  instances  just  cited,  it 
is  evident  that  the  ability  to  work  is  needful  for  the  production 
of  the  greatest  happiness ;  but  the  acquirement  of  this  ability 
by  the  uncivilized  man  is  so  distressing,  that  only  severe  dis- 
cipline will  force  him  to  it.  The  degree  of  intelligence  which 
our  existing  mode  of  life  necessitates,  cannot  be  arrived  at 
without  ages  of  wearisome  application,  and  perhaps  cannot  get 
organized  in  the  race  without  a  partial  and  temporary  sacri- 
fice of  bodily  health.  Here,  then,  are  cases  in  which  men's 
liberties  must  not  be  limited  by  the  necessity  of  not  inflicting 
pain  on  themselves ;  seeing  that  it  cannot  be  so  limited  with- 
out a  suspension  of  our  approach  to  greatest  happiness. 
Similarly,  we  saw  that  there  are  cases  in  which,  for  the  same 
reason,  men's  liberties  must  not  be  limited  by  the  necessity 
of  not  inflicting  pain  on  others.  And  the  fact  now  to  be 


42  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

noticed  is,  that  we  possess  no  certain  way  of  distinguishing 
the  two  groups  of  cases  thus  exemplified,  from  those  cases  in 
which  the  doing  what  diminishes  happiness,  either  in  our- 
selves or  others,  is  both  immediately  and  ultimately  detri- 
mental, and  therefore  wrong.  As  both  of  these  supplement- 
ary limitations  involve  the  term  happiness,  and  as  happiness 
is  for  the  present  capable  only  of  a  generic  and  not  of  a  spe- 
cific definition,  they  do  not  admit  of  scientific  development. 

And  now  we  have  arrived  at  an  important  truth  touching 
this  matter — the  truth  that  only  by  exercise  of  this  liberty  of 
each,  limited  alone  by  the  like  liberties  of  all,  can  there  arise 
a  separation  of  those  acts  which,  though  incidentally  and 
temporarily  injurious  to  ourselves  or  others,  are  indirectly 
beneficial,  from  those  acts  which  are  necessarily  and  perma- 
nently injurious.  For  manifestly,  all  non-adaptation  of  fac- 
ulties to  their  functions  must  consist  either  in  excess  or 
defect.  Manifestly,  too,  in  the  wide  range  of  cases  we  are 
now  treating  of,  there  exists  no  mode  but  a  tentative  one  of 
distinguishing  that  exercise  of  faculties  which  produces  suf- 
fering because  it  oversteps  the  conditions  to  normal  existence, 
from  that  other  exercise  of  faculties  which  produces  suffer- 
ing because  it  falls  short  of  those  conditions.  And  mani- 
festly, the  due  employment  of  this  tentative  mode  requires 
that  each  man  shall  have  the  greatest  freedom  compatible 
with  the  like  freedom  of  all  others. 

That,  on  this  course  being  pursued,  there  will  happen  a 
gradual  cessation  of  the  detrimentally  painful  actions,  while 
the  beneficially  painful  ones  will  be  continued  until  they 
have  ceased  to  be  painful,  may  be  made  clear  by  a  few  illus- 
trations. Thus,  the  change  from  the  impulsive  nature  of  the 
savage  to  that  nature  which  enables  the  civilized  man  to  sac- 
rifice a  present  gratification  for  a  future  greater  one,  involves 
much  suffering ;  but  the  necessities  of  social  life  demanding 
such  a  change,  and  continually  visiting  the  lack  of  self-re- 
straining power  with  punishment,  ensure  a  constant  though 


DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE.  43 

irksome  endeavour  on  the  part  of  all  to  acquire  this  power — 
an  endeavour  which  must  surely  though  slowly  succeed. 
Conversely,  the  prevalence  of  a  somewhat  undue  desire  for 
food,  entailing  as  it  does  unpleasant  results,  brings  about  such 
attempts  at  abstemiousness  as  must,  by  constantly  curbing 
it,  finally  reduce  this  desire  to  normal  intensity.*  And  what 
so  manifestly  happens  in  these  simple  cases,  will  happen  in 
those  complex  ones  above  exemplified,  where  the  good  and 
bad  results  are  more  nearly  balanced.  For  although  it  may 
be  impossible  in  such  cases  for  the  intellect  to  estimate  the 
respective  amounts  of  pleasure  and  pain  consequent  on  each 
alternative,  yet  will  experience  enable  the  constitution  itself 
to  do  this ;  and  will  further  cause  it  instinctively  to  shun  that 
course  which  produces  on  the  whole  most  suffering,  or,  in 
other  words — most  sins  against  the  necessities  of  existence, 
and  to  choose  that  which  least  sins  against  them.  Turning 
to  those  actions  which  put  us  in  direct  relation  to  other  men, 
it  must  similarly  happen  that  such  of  them  as  give  no  neces- 
sary displeasure  to  any  one,  will  be  persevered  in,  and  the 
faculties  answering  to  them  developed;  while  actions  neces- 
sarily displeasing  to  others,  must,  by  virtue  of  the  disa- 
greeable reactions  which  they  entail,  be,  in  the  average  of 
cases,  subject  to  some  repression — a  repression  which  must 
ultimately  tell  upon  the  desires  they  spring  from.  And 
now  observe  that  in  the  course  of  this  process  there  must 
continually  be  produced  a  different  effect  upon  conduct 
which  is  necessarily  painful  to  others,  from  that  produced 
upon  conduct  that  is  incidentally  painful  only.  Conduct 


*  Why  the  appetite  for  food  should  now  be  greater  than  is  proper,  seems 
at  first  difficult  to  understand.  On  calling  to  mind,  however,  the  circum- 
stances of  the  savage,  we  find  an  explanation  in  the  fact,  that  the  irregu- 
larity in  his  supplies  of  food  necessitated  an  ability  to  eat  largely  when 
food  was  attainable,  and  necessitated,  therefore,  a  corresponding  desire. 
Now  that  the  supplies  of  food  have  become  regular,  and  no  contingent 
periods  of  long  fasting  have  to  be  provided  against,  the  desire  is  in  excess 
and  has  to  be  abated. 


44  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

which  hurts  necessary  feelings  in  others  will,  as  just  ex- 
plained, inevitably  undergo  restraint  and  consequent  diminu- 
tion. Conduct  which  hurts  only  their  incidental  feelings,  as 
those  of  caste,  or  prejudice,  will  not  inevitably  do  so ;  but  if 
it  springs  from  necessary  feelings,  will  be  continued  at  the 
expense  of  these  incidental  feelings,  and  to  the  final  suppres- 
sion of  them.  Thus,  the  existing  confusion  of  necessary  and 
conventional  feelings,  necessary  and  conventional  circum- 
stances, and  feelings  and  circumstances  that  are  partly  neces- 
sary and  partly  conventional,  will  eventually  work  itself  clear. 
If,  then,  the  one  thing  needful  to  produce  ultimate  sub- 
ordination to  these  secondary  limits  of  right  conduct  is,  that 
we  should  have  the  opportunity  of  coming  in  contact  with 
them — should  be  allowed  freely  to  expand  our  natures  in  all 
directions,  until  the  available  space  has  been  filled  and  the 
true  bounds  have  made  themselves  felt — if  a  development  of 
these  secondary  limits  into  practical  codes  of  duty  can  only 
thus  be  accomplished ;  then  does  the  supreme  authority  of 
our  first  law — the  liberty  of  each  limited  alone  by  the  like 
liberties  of  all — become  still  more  manifest ;  seeing  that  that 
right  to  exercise  the  faculties  which  it  asserts,  must  precede 
the  unfolding  of  this  supplementary  morality. 

Nevertheless,  it  must  still  be  admitted  that  in  cases  where 
these  secondary  limitations  to  the  exercise  of  faculties  are 
undoubtedly  transgressed,  the  full  assertion  of  this  law  of 
equal  freedom  betrays  us  into  an  apparent  dilemma.  By 
drunkenness,  or  by  brutality  of  manner,  our  own  happiness, 
or  the  happiness  of  others,  is  diminished  ;  and  that  not  in  an 
incidental  but  in  a  necessary  way.  And  if  by  affirming  a 
man's  liberty  to  do  all  that  he  wills  so  long  as  he  respects 
the  like  liberty  of  every  other,  we  imply  that  he  is  at  liberty 
to  get  drunk  or  to  behave  brutally,  then  we  fall  into  the  in- 
consistency of  affirming  that  he  is  at- liberty  to  do  something 
essentially  destructive  of  happiness. 

Of  this  difficulty  nothing  can  be  said,  save  that  it  seems 


DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST   PRINCIPLE.  45 

due  to  the  impossibility  of  making  the  perfect  law  recog- 
nize an  imperfect  state.  As  matters  stand,  however,  we  must 
deal  with  it  as  best  we  may.  There  is  clearly  no  alternative 
but  to  declare  man's  freedom  to  exercise  his  faculties.  There 
is  clearly  no  alternative  but  to  declare  the  several  limitations 
of  that  freedom  needful  for  the  achievement  of  greatest  hap- 
piness. And  there  is  clearly  no  alternative  but  to  develop 
the  first  and  chief  of  these  limitations  separately  ;  seeing  that 
a  development  of  the  others  is  at  present  impossible.  Against 
thec  onsequence  of  neglecting  these  secondary  limitations,  we 
must  guard  ourselves  as  well  as  we  can :  supplying  the  place 
of  scientific  deductions  by  such  inferences  as  observation  and 
experience  enable  us  to  make. 

Finally,  however,  there  is  satisfaction  in  the  thought,  that 
no  such  imperfection  as  this  can  vitiate  any  of  the  conclu- 
sions we  are  now  about  to  draw.  Liberty  of  action  being  the 
first  essential  to  exercise  of  faculties,  and  therefore  the  first 
essential  to  happiness ;  and  the  liberty  of  each  limited  by 
the  like  liberties  of  all,  being  the  form  which  this  first  essen- 
tial assumes  when  applied  to  many  instead  of  one  ;  it  follows 
that  this  liberty  of  each,  limited  by  the  like  liberties  of  all, 
is  the  rule  in  conformity  with  which  society  must  be  organ- 
ized. Freedom  being  the  pre-requisite  to  normal  life  in  the 
individual,  equal  freedom  becomes  the  pre-requisite  to  normal 
life  in  society.  And  if  this  law  of  equal  freedom  is  the  pri- 
mary law  of  right  relationship  between  man  and  man,  then 
no  desire  to  get  fulfilled  a  secondary  law  can  warrant  us  in 
breaking  it. 


SECONDARY  DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST 
PRINCIPLE. 

THIS  first  and  all-essential  law,  declaratory  of  the  liberty 
of  each  limited  only  by  the  like  liberties  of  all,  is  that  funda- 
mental truth  of  which  the  moral  sense  gives  an  intuition, 
and  which  the  intellect  has  to  develop  into  a  scientific 
morality. 

Quite  independently  of  any  such  analytical  examination 
as  that  just  concluded,  men  perpetually  exhibit  a  tendency 
to  assert  the  equality  of  human  rights.  In  all  ages,  but 
more  especially  in  later  ones,  has  this  tendency  been  visible. 
In  our  own  history  we  may  detect  it  as  early  as  the  time  of 
Edward  I.,  in  whose  writs  of  summons  it  was  said  to  be  "  a 
most  equitable  rule,  that  what  concerns  all  should  be  ap- 
proved of  by  all."  How  our  institutions  have  been  influenced 
by  it  may  be  seen  in  the  judicial  principle  that  "  all  men  are 
equal  before  the  law."  The  doctrine  that  "  all  men  are 
naturally  equal "  (of  course  not  in  their  faculties,  but  only 
in  their  claims  to  make  the  best  use  of  their  faculties),  has 
not  only  been  asserted  by  philanthropists  like  Granville 
Sharpe,  but,  as  Sir  Robert  Filmer,  a  once-renowned  cham- 
pion of  absolute  monarchy,  tells  ns,  "  Heyward,  Blackwood, 
Barclay,  and  others  that  have  bravely  vindicated  the  rights 
of  kings,  .  .  .  with  one  consent  admitted  the  natural  liberty 
and  equality  of  mankind."  In  his  essay  on  Civil  Govern- 
ment, Locke,  too,  expresses  the  opinion  that  there  is  "  noth- 
ing more  evident  than  that  creatures  of  the  same  species 
and  rank,  promiscuously  born  to  the  same  advantages  of 


SECONDARY  DERIVATION  OP  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE.     4.7 

nature,  and  the  use  of  the  same  faculties,  should  also  be 
equal  one  amongst  another  without  subordination  or  subjec- 
tion." Ao-ain,  we  find  the  declaration  of  American  iude- 

O  7 

pendence  affirming  that  "  all  men  have  equal  rights  to  life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  And  those  who  wish 
for  more  authorities  who  have  expressed  the  same  convic- 
tion, may  add  the  names  of  Judge  Blackstone  and  "  the 
judicious  Hooker." 

The  sayings  and  doings  of  daily  life  continually  imply 
some  intuitive  belief  of  this  kind.  "We  take  for  granted  its 
universality  when  we  appeal  to  men's  sense  of  justice.  It 
shows  itself  in  such  expressions  as — "  How  would  you  like 
it  ?  "  "  I've  as  good  a  right  as  you,"  &c.  Nay,  indeed,  so 
spontaneous  is  this  faith  in  the  equality  of  human  rights, 
that  our  very  language  embodies  it.  Equity  and  equal  are 
from  the  same  root ;  and  equity  literally  means  equalness. 

'Not  without  meaning  is  the  continued  life  and  growth  of 
this  conviction.  He  must  indeed  have  a  strange  way  of 
interpreting  social  phenomena,  who  can  believe  that  the  re- 
appearance of  it,  with  increasing  frequency,  in  laws,  books, 
agitations,  revolutions,  means  nothing.  If  we  analyze  them, 
we  shall  find  all  beliefs  to  be  in  some  way  dependent  on 
mental  conformation — temporary  ones  upon  temporary  char- 
acteristics of  our  nature — permanent  ones  on  its  permanent 
characteristics.  And  when  we  find  that  a  belief  like  this 
in  the  equal  freedom  of  all  men,  is  not  only  permanent 
but  daily  gaining  ground,  we  have  good  reason  to  conclude 
that  it  corresponds  to  some  essential  element  of  our  moral 
constitution  :  more  especially  since  we  find  that  its  existence 
is  in  harmony  with  that  chief  pre-requisite  to  greatest 
happiness  lately  dwelt  upon ;  and  that  its  growth  is  in 
harmony  with  that  law  of  adaptation  by  which  this  greatest 
happiness  is  being  wrought  out. 

Snch,  at  least,  is  the  hypothesis  here  adopted.  From  the 
above  accumulation  of  evidence  it  is  inferred  that  there  exists 
in  man  what  may  be  termed  an  instinct  of  personal  rights — a 


48  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

feeling  that  leads  him  to  claim  as  great  a  share  of  natural 
privilege  as  is  claimed  by  others — a  feeling  that  leads  him  to 
repel  anything  like  an  encroachment  upon  what  he  thinks 
his  sphere  of  original  freedom.  J3y  -virtue  of  this  impulse, 
individuals,  as  units  of  the  social  mass,  tend  to  assume  like 
relationships  with  the  atoms  of  matter ;  surrounded  as  these 
are  by  their  respective  atmospheres  of  repulsion  as  well  as  of 
attraction.  And  perhaps  social  stability  may  ultimately  be 
seen  to  depend  on  the  due  balance  of  these  forces. 

But  why,  it  may  be  asked,  should  there  need  any  senti- 
ment leading  men  to  claim  the  liberty  of  action  requisite  for 
the  due  exercise  of  faculties,  and  prompting  them  to  resist 
encroachments  upon  that  liberty?  Will  not  the  several 
faculties  themselves  do  this,  by  virtue  of  their  desires  for 
activity,  which  cannot  otherwise  be  gratified  ?  Surely  there 
is  no  necessity  for  a  special  impulse  to  make  a  man  do  that 
which  all  his  impulses  conjointly  tend  to  make  him  do. 

This  is  not  so  serious  an  objection  as  it  appears  to  be- 
For  although,  were  there  no  such  sentiment  as  this  supposed 
one,  each  faculty  in  turn  might  impel  its  possessor  to  oppose 
a  diminution  of  its  own  sphere  of  action,  yet,  during  the 
dormancy  of  that  faculty,  there  would  be  nothing  to  prevent 
the  freedom  requisite  for  its  future  exercise  from  being 
infringed  upon.  It  may,  perhaps,  be  rejoined,  that  the  mere 
consciousness  that  there  must  again  happen  occasions  for  the 
nse  of  such  freedom  will  constitute  a  sufficient  incentive  to 
defend  it.  But  plausible  as  this  supposition  looks,  it  does 
not  tally  with  facts.  We  do  not  find  on  inquiry,  that  each 
faculty  has  a  special  foresight.  We  find,  on  the  contrary, 
that  to  provide  for  the  future  gratification  of  the  faculties 
at  large,  is  the  office  of  faculties  existing  solely  for  that 
purpose.  Thus,  referring  once  more  by  way  of  illustration 
to  the  acquisitive  instinct,  we  see  that,  when  this  is  wanting, 
the  desires  for  food,  for  clothing,  for  shelter,  together  with 
those  many  other  desires  which  property  ministers  to,  do 
not  of  themselves  prompt  that  accumulation  of  property  on 


SECONDARY  DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE.     49 

which  the  continuance  of  their  satisfactions  depends.  Each 
of  them,  when  active,  impels  the  individual  to  take  means 
for  its  present  fulfilment,  but  does  not  prompt  him  to  lay  by 
the  means  for  its  future  fulfilment.  Similarly,  then,  with 
liberty  of  action.  It  is  argued  that  as  each  faculty  does  not 
look  after  its  own  particular  fund  of  necessaries,  so  neither 
does  it  look  after  its  own  particular  sphere  of  activity ;  and 
that  as  there  is  a  special  faculty  to  which  the  providing  of  a 
general  fund  of  necessaries  is  consigned,  so  likewise  is  there  a 
special  faculty  to  which  the  maintenance  of  a  general  sphere 
of  activity  is  consigned. 

Seeing,  however,  that  this  instinct  of  personal  rights  is  a 
purely  selfish  instinct,  leading  each  man  to  assert  and  defend 
his  own  liberty  of  action,  there  remains  the  question — 
Whence  comes  our  perception  of  the  rights  of  others  ? 

The  way  to  a  solution  of  this  difficulty  has  been  opened 
by  Adam  Smith  in  his  Theory  of  Moral  Sentiments.  It  is 
the  aim  of  that  work  to  show  that  the  proper  regulation  of 
our  conduct  to  one  another,  is  secured  by  means  of  a  faculty 
whose  function  it  is  to  excite  in  each  being  the  emotions 
displayed  by  surrounding  ones — a  faculty  which  awakens  a 
like  state  of  sentiment,  or,  as  he  terms  it,  "  a  fellow-feeling 
with  the  passion  of  others  " — the  faculty,  in  short,  which  we 
commonly  call  Sympathy.  As  illustrations  of  the  mode  in 
which  the  agent  acts,  he  cites  cases  like  these  : — 

"  Persons  of  delicate  fibres,  and  weak  constitution  of  body, 
complain  that  in  looking  on  the  sores  and  ulcers  which  are 
exposed  by  beggars  in  the  streets,  they  are  apt  to  feel  an 
itching  or  uneasy  sensation  in  the  corresponding  part  of 
their  own  bodies."  "Men  of  most  robust  make  observe, 
that  in  looking  upon  sore  eyes  they  often  feel  a  very 
sensible  soreness  in  their  own."  "  Our  joy  for  the  deliver- 
ance of  those  heroes  of  tragedy  or  romance  who  interest  us, 
is  as  sincere  as  our  grief  for  their  distress,  and  our  fellow- 
feeling  for  their  misery,  is  not  more  real  than  that  for  their 


50  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

happiness."  "  We  blush  for  the  impudence  and  rudeness  of 
another,  though  he  himself  appears  to  have  no  sense  of  the 
impropriety  of  his  behaviour." 

To  these  facts  cited  by  Adam  Smith,  may  be  added  many 
others  of  like  import ;  such  as  that  people — women  especially 
— start  or  shriek  on  seeing  an  accident  occur  to  others ;  that 
unpractised  assistants  at  surgical  operations  often  faint ;  that 
out  of  the  soldiers  drawn  up  to  witness  a  flogging,  usually 
several  drop  down  in  the  ranks ;  that  a  boy  has  been  known 
to  die  .on  witnessing  an  execution.  We  have  all  experienced 
the  uncomfortable  feeling  of  shame  produced  in  us  by  the 
blunders  and  confusion  of  a  nervous  speaker ;  and  probably 
every  one  has,  some  time  or  other,  been  put  into  a  horrible 
tremor  on  seeing  a  person  at  the  edge  of  a  precipice.  The 
converse  action  of  the  faculty  is  equally  observable.  Thus, 
we  find  ourselves  unable  to  avoid  joining  in  the  merriment  of 
our  friends,  while  unaware  of  its  cause ;  and  children,  much 
to  their  annoyance,  are  often  forced  to  laugh  in  the  midst  of 
their  tears,  by  witnessing  the  laughter  of  those  around  them. 
These  and  many  like  evidences  prove  that,  as  Burke  says, 
"  sympathy  must  be  considered  as  a  sort  of  substitution  by 
which  we  are  put  into  the  place  of  another  man,  and  affected 
in  many  respects  as  he  is  affected." 

In  tracing  our  benevolent  actions  to  the  influence  of  such 
a  faculty — in  concluding  that  we  are  led  to  relieve  the  mis- 
eries of  others  from  a  desire  to  rid  ourselves  of  the  pain  given 
by  the  sight  of  misery,  and  to  make  others  happy  because  we 
participate  in  their  happiness — Adam  Smith  puts  forth  what 
seems  to  be  a  quite  satisfactory  theory.  But  he  has  over- 
looked one  of  its  most  important  applications.  Not  recog- 
nizing any  such  impulse  as  that  which  urges  men  to  maintain 
their  claims,  he  did  not  see  that  their  respect  for  the  claims 
of  others,  may  be  explained  in  the  same  way.  He  did  not 
perceive  that  the  sentiment  of  justice  is  nothing  but  a  sym- 
pathetic affection  of  the  instinct  of  personal  rights — a  sort  of 
reflex  function  of  it.  Such,  however,  must  be  the  case,  if 


SECONDARY  DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE.     51 

that  instinct  exists,  and  if  this  hypothesis  of  Adam  Smith  be 
true.  Here  lies  the  explanation  of  those  qualms  of  conscience, 
as  we  call  them,  felt  by  men  who  have  committed  dishonest 
actions.  It  is  through  this  instrumentality  that  we  receive 
satisfaction  on  paying  another  what  is  due  to  him.  And 
with  these  two  faculties  also,  originates  that  indignation 
which  narratives  of  political  oppression  excite  in  us. 

It  was  elsewhere  hinted  (p.  34)  that  though  we  must  keep 
up  the  distinction  between  them,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
justice  and  beneficence  have  a  common  root ;  and  the  reader 
will  now  at  once  perceive  that  the  common  root  is — Sympa- 
thy. All  the  actions  properly  classified  under  the  one,  and 
which  we  describe  as  fair,  equitable,  upright,  spring  from 
the  sympathetic  excitement  of  the  instinct  of  personal  rights ; 
while  those  usually  grouped  under  the  other,  as  mercy,  char- 
ity, good-nature,  generosity,  amiability,  considerateness,  are 
due  to  the  action  of  Sympathy  upon  one  or  more  of  the  other 
feelings. 

If  it  be  true  that  men's  perceptions  of  justice  are  gener- 
ated in  the  way  alleged,  it  will  follow  that,  other  things  equal 
(i.e.,  if  there  are  equal  amounts  of  sympathy),  those  who  have 
the  strongest  sense  of  their  own  rights,  will  have  the  strongest 
sense  of  the  rights  of  their  neighbours.  And,  by  observing 
whether  this  is  the  case  or  not,  we  may  put  the  theory  to  the 
proof.  Let  us  do  this. 

The  first  illustration  that  suggests  itself  is  afforded  by  the 
Society  of  Friends.  Ever  since  they  appeared  in  the  days  of 
Charles  I.,  the  members  of  that  body  have  been  remarkable 
for  their  determined  assertion  of  personal  liberty.  They  have 
shown  it  in  their  continued  resistance  to  ecclesiastical  power ; 
in  the  obstinacy  with  which  they  successfully  defied  persecu- 
tion ;  in  their  still-continued  refusal  to  pay  church-rates ;  and 
even  in  their  creed,  which  does  not  permit  a  priesthood. 
Observe,  now,  how  the  sentiment  which  these  peculiarities 
imply  has  manifested  itself  sympathetically.  Penn  and  his 


52  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

followers  were  the  only  emigrants  of  their  age  who  made 
any  acknowledgment  to  the  aborigines  for  the  land  they  col- 
onized. This  same  sect  furnished  sundry  of  the  philanthro- 
pists who  set  up  the  agitation  for  abolishing  the  slave  trade, 
and  were  most  energetic  in  carrying  it  on.  Among  lunatic 
asylums,  the  York  Retreat  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the 
first,  in  which  a  non-coercive  treatment  of  the  insane  was 
adopted.  They  were  Quakers,  too,  who  years  ago  began 
publicly  to  exclaim  against  the  injustice  as  well  as  the  cruelty 
of  war.  And,  while  it  may  be  true  that  in  business  they  are 
firm  in  the  assertion  of  their  claims,  it  is  not-  less  true  that  on 
the  whole  they  are  remarkable  for  honest  dealing. 

Conversely,  we  find  that  those  who  have  not  a  strong 
sense  of  what  is  just  to  themselves,  are  likewise  deficient  in 
a  sense  of  what  is  just  to  their  fellow-men.  This  has  long 
been  a  common  remark.  As  one  of  our  living  writers  puts 
it — the  tyrant  is  nothing  but  a  slave  turned  inside  out.  In 
earlier  days,  when  feudal  lords  were  vassals  to  the  king,  they 
were  also  despots  to  their  retainers  In  our  own  time,  the 
Russian  noble  is  alike  a  serf  to  his  autocrat  and  an  autocrat 
to  his  serf.  It  is  remarked,  even  by  school-boys,  that  the 
bully  is  the  most  ready  of  all  to  knock  under  to  a  bigger 
bully.  "We  constantly  observe  that  those  who  fawn  upon  the 
great  are  overbearing  to  their  inferiors.  That  "  emancipated 
slaves  exceed  all  other  owners  (of  slaves)  in  cruelty  and  op- 
pression," *  is  a  truth  established  by  numerous  authorities. 

One  qualification  must  be  made,  however.  There  is  no 
necessary  connection  between  a  sense  of  what  is  due  to  self, 
and  a  sense  of  what  is  due  to  others.  Sympathy  and  instinct  of 
rights  do  not  always  co-exist  in  equal  strength  any  more  than 
other  faculties  do.  Either  of  them  may  be  present  in  normal 
amount  while  the  other  is  almost  wanting.  And,  if  devoid  of 
sympathy,  it  is  possible  for  a  man  who  has  a  sufficient  impulse 
to  assert  his  own  claims,  to  show  no  corresponding  respect 

*  Four  Years  in  the  Pacific.    By  Lieut.  Walpole. 


SECONDARY  DERIVATION  OF  A  FIRST  PRINCIPLE.     53 

for  the  claims  of  his  fellows.  The  instinct  of  rights  being  of 
itself  entirely  selfish,  merely  impels  its  possessor  to  maintain 
his  own  rights.  Only  by  the  sympathetic  excitement  of  it, 
is  a  desire  to  behave  equitably  to  others  awakened ;  and  when 
sympathy  is  absent  such  a  desire  is  impossible. 

Further  proof  may  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  some  of  the 
peculiar  moral  notions  traceable  to  these  sentiments  are  per- 
fectly in  harmony  with  certain  of  the  abstract  conclusions 
arrived  at  in  the  preceding  chapter.  "We  find  in  ourselves  a 
conviction,  for  which  we  can  give  no  satisfactory  reason,  that 
we  are  free,  if  we  please,  to  do  particular  things  which  it  is 
yet  blamable  to  do.  Though  it  may  greatly  diminish  his 
happiness,  a  man  feels  that  he  has  a  right,  if  he  likes,  to  cut 
off  a  finger,  or  to  destroy  his  property.  While  we  condemn 
the  want  of  consideration  he  shows  towards  some  miserable 
debtor,  yet  we  admit  that  the  hard  creditor  is,  in  strict  justice, 
entitled  to  the  uttermost  farthing.  Notwithstanding  our  dis- 
gust at  the  selfishness  of  one  who  refuses  to  afford  some 
friendly  accommodation,  we  cannot  deny  that  he  is  quite  at 
liberty  to  refuse.  Now  these  perceptions  which,  if  the  hy- 
pothesis be  true,  are  referable  to  the  instinct  of  personal 
rights,  acting  in  the  one  case  directly  and  in  the  other  cases 
sympathetically,  quite  accord  with  foregoing  inferences.  We 
found  that  the  law  of  equal  freedom  is  the  fundamental  law. 
We  found  (p.  40)  that  no  other  limitations  of  activity  could 
be  as  authoritative  as  that  which  it  sets  up.  And  we  found 
further  (p.  41)  that  in  this,  our  state  of  adaptation,  it  would 
be  wrong  to  establish  any  fixed  boundary  to  the  liberty  of 
each,  save  the  similar  liberties  of  others.  Such  a  correspond- 
ence between  our  instinctive  beliefs  and  the  conclusions  pre- 
viously arrived  at,  lends  additional  probability  to  the  hypoth- 
esis here  advanced. 

There  exists,  however,  a  dominant  sect  of  politicians  who 
treat  with  contempt  this  belief  that  men  have  any  claims  an- 


54  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

tecedent  to  those  created  by  governments.  As  disciples  of 
Bentham,  consistency  requires  them  to  do  this.  Accordingly, 
although  it  does  violence  to  their  secret  perceptions,  they 
boldly  deny  the  existence  of  "  rights  "  entirely.  Practically, 
if  not  professedly,  they  hold,  with  Thrasymachus,  that  nothing 
is  intrinsically  right  or  wrong,  but  that  it  becomes  either  by 
the  dictum  of  the  State.  If  we  are  to  credit  them  govern- 
ment determines  what  shall  be  morality,  and  not  morality 
what  shall  be  government.  They  believe  in  no  oracular  prin- 
ciple by  whose  yea  or  nay  we  may  be  guided  :  their  Delphi 
is  the  House  of  Commons.  By  their  account  man  lives  and 
moves  and  has  his  being  by  legislative  permit.  His  freedom 
to  do  this  or  that  is  not  natural,  but  conferred.  The  ques- 
tion— Has  the  citizen  any  claim  to  the  work  of  his  hands  ? 
can  be  decided  only  by  a  parliamentary  division.  If  "  the 
ayes  have  it,"  he  has ;  if  "  the  noes,"  he  has  not.  Neverthe- 
less they  perpetually  betray  a  belief  in  the  doctrines  which 
they  professedly  reject.  They  inadvertently  talk  about  jus- 
tice, especially  when  it  concerns  themselves,  in  much  the  same 
style  as  their  opponents.  They  draw  the  same  distinction  be- 
tween law  and  equity  that  other  people  do.  And  when  robbed, 
or  assaulted,  or  wrongly  imprisoned,  they  exhibit  the  same  in- 
dignation, the  same  determination  to  oppose  the  aggressor,  utter 
the  same  denunciations  of  tyranny,  and  the  same  loud  demands 
for  redress,  as  the  sternest  assertors  of  the  rights  of  man. 

But  it  is  amusing  when,  after  all,  it  turns  out  that  the 
ground  on  which  these  philosophers  have  taken  their  stand, 
and  from  which  with  such  self-complacency  they  shower 
their  sarcasms,  is  nothing  but  an  adversary's  mine,  destined 
to  blow  the  vast  fabric  of  conclusions  they  have  based  on 
it  into  nonentity.  This  so  solid-looking  principle  of  "the 
greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest  number,"  needs  but  to  have 
a  light  brought  near  it,  and  lo  !  it  explodes  into  the  astound- 
ing assertion,  that  all  men  have  equal  rights  to  happiness 
(p.  18) — an  assertion  far  more  sweeping  and  revolutionary 
than  any  of  those  which  are  assailed  with  so  much  scorn. 


FIKST  PRINCIPLE. 

THUS  are  we  brought  by  several  routes  to  the  same  con- 
clusion. Whether  we  reason  our  way  from  those  fixed  condi- 
tions under  which  alone  greatest  happiness  can  be  realized 
— whether  we  draw  our  inferences  from  man's  constitution, 
considering  him  as  a  congeries  of  faculties — or  whether  we 
listen  to  the  monitions  of  a  certain  mental  agency,  which 
seems  to  have  the  function  of  guiding  us  in  this  matter ;  we 
are  alike  taught,  as  the  law  of  right  social  relationships,  that 
— Every  man  has  freedom  to  do  all  that  he  wills,  provided  he 
infringes  not  the  equal  freedom  of  any  other  man.  Though 
further  qualifications  of  the  liberty  of  action  thus  asserted  are 
necessary,  yet  we  have  seen  that  in  the  just  regulation  of 
a  community  no  further  qualifications  of  it  can  be  recognized. 
Such  further  qualifications  must  remain  for  private  and  in- 
dividual application.  We  must  therefore  adopt  this  law  of 
equal  freedom  in  its  entirety,  as  the  law  on  which  a  correct 
system  of  equity  is  to  be  based. 

Some  will,  perhaps,  object  to  this  first  principle,  that 
being  in  the  nature  of  an  axiomatic  truth — standing 
towards  the  inferences  to  be  drawn  from  it  in  the 
position  of  one,  it  ought  to  be  recognized  by  all ;  which 
it  is  not. 

Respecting  the  fact  thus  alleged,  that  there  have  been,  and 
are,  men  impervious  to  this  first  principle,  there  can  be  no 
question.  Probably  it  would  have  been  dissented  from  by 


56  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

Aristotle,  who  considered  it  a  "  self-evident  maxim  that  nature 
intended  barbarians  to  be  slaves."  Cardinal  Julian,  who 
"  abhorred  the  impiety  of  keeping  faith  with  infidels,"  might 
possibly  have  disputed  it.  It  is  a  doctrine  which  would 
scarcely  have  suited  the  abbot  Guibert,  who,  in  his  sermons, 
called  the  free  cities  of  France  "  those  execrable  communities, 
where  serfs,  against  law  and  justice,  withdraw  themselves 
from  the  power  of  their  lords."  And  perhaps  the  High- 
landers, who  in  1748  were  reluctant  to  receive  their  freedom 
on  the  abolition  of  the  heritable  jurisdictions,  would  not  have 
admitted  it.  But  the  confession  that  the  truth  of  this  first 
principle  is  not  self-evident  to  all,  by  no  means  invalidates  it. 
The  Bushman  can  count  only  as  high  as  three ;  yet  arithmetic 
is  a  fact,  and  we  have  a  Calculus  of  Functions  by  the  aid 
of  which  we  find  new  planets.  As,  then,  the  disability  of  the 
savage  to  perceive  the  elementary  truths  of  number  is  no 
argument  against  their  existence,  and  no  obstacle  to  their 
discovery  and  development ;  so,  the  circumstance  that  some 
do  not  see  the  law  of  equal  freedom  to  be  an  elementary 
truth  of  ethics,  does  not  disprove  the  statement  that  it 
is  one. 

So  far  indeed  is  this  difference  in  men's  moral  perceptions 
from  being  a  difficulty  in  our  way,  that  it  serves  to  illustrate 
a  doctrine  already  set  forth.  As  already  explained,  man's 
original  circumstances  "  required  that  he  should  sacrifice  the 
welfare  of  other  beings  to  his  own ; "  whereas  his  present  cir- 
cumstances require  that  "each  individual  shall  have  such 
desires  only  as  may  be  fully  satisfied  without  trenching  upon 
the  ability  of  other  individuals  to  obtain  like  satisfactions." 
And  it  was  pointed  out  that,  in  virtue  of  the  law  of  adapta- 
tion, the  human  constitution  is  changing  from  the  form  which 
fitted  it  to  the  first  set  of  conditions  to  a  form  fitting  it  for 
the  last.  Now  it  is  by  the  growth  of  those  two  faculties 
which  together  originate  what  we  term  a  Moral  Sense,  that 
fitness  for  these  last  conditions  is  secured.  In  proportion  to 
the  strength  of  sympathy  and  the  instinct  of  personal  rights, 


FIRST  PRINCIPLE.  57 

will  be  the  impulse  to  conform  to  the  law  of  equal  freedom. 
And  in  the  mode  elsewhere  shown  (p.  20),  the  impulse  to 
conform  to  this  law  will  generate  a  correlative  belief  in  it. 
Only,  therefore,  after  the  process  of  adaptation  has  made 
considerable  advance,  can  there  arise  either  subordination  to 
this  law  or  a  perception  of  its  truth.  And  hence  any  general 
recognition  of  it  during  the  earlier  stages  of  social  develop- 
ment must  not  be  looked  for. 

To  the  direct  evidence  which  has  been  accumulated  in 
proof  of  our  first  principle,  may  now  be  added  indirect  evi- 
dence furnished  by  the  absurdities  into  which  denial  of  it  be- 
trays us.  He  who  asserts  that  the  law  of  equal  freedom  is 
not  true,  that  is,  he  who  asserts  that  men  have  not  equal 
rights,  has  two  alternatives.  He  may  either  say  that  men 
have  no  rights  at  all,  or  that  they  have  unequal  rights.  Let 
us  examine  these  positions. 

Foremost  of  those  who  deny  rights  altogether,  stands  that 
same  Sir  Robert  Filmer  already  named,  with  his  dogma  that 
"  men  are  not  naturally  free."  Starting  thus,  he  readily  finds 
his  way  to  the  conclusion  that  the  only  proper  form  of 
government  is  an  absolute  monarchy.  For,  if  men  are  not 
naturally  free,  that  is,  if  men  have  naturally  no  rights,  then, 
he  only  has  rights  to  whom  they  are  specially  given  by  God. 
From  which  inference  to  "  the  divine  right  of  kings  "  is  an 
easy  step.  It  has  become  manifest  in  later  times,  however, 
that  this  divine  right  of  kings,  means  the  divine  right  of 
any  one  who  can  get  uppermost.  For  since,  according  to 
its  assertors,  no  man  can  be  supposed  to  occupy  the  position 
of  supreme  ruler  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  deity,  it 
follows  that  whoever  attains  to  that  position,  whether  by  fair 
means  or  by  foul,  be  he  legitimate  or  be  he  usurper,  has 
divine  authority  on  his  side.  So  that  to  say  "  men  are  not 
naturally  free,"  is  to  say  that  though  men  have  no  rights,  yet 
whoever  can  get  power  to  coerce  the  rest  has  a  right  to 
do  so! 


58  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

For  espousing  the  other  alternative,  namely,  that  men's 
rights  are  unequal,  the  assigned  motive  is  a  desire  to  ensure 
supremacy  of  the  best.  But  even  were  it  admitted  that,  to 
ensure  supremacy  of  the  best,  liberty  of  action  should  be 
apportioned  to  men  in  the  ratios  of  their  merits,  there 
remains  the  question— ^how  are  relative  merits  to  be  deter- 
mined ?  We  cannot  appeal  to  public  opinion,  for  it  is  not 
uniform.  And  were  it  uniform  there  is  no  reason  to  think 
that  it  would  be  correct.  Can  confidence  be  placed  in  the 
judgments  of  men  who  subscribe  Hudson-testimonials,  and 
yet  leave  the  original  projector  of  railways  to  die  in  poverty  ? 
Are  those  fit  to  decide  on  comparative  greatness  who  have 
erected  half-a-dozen  public  monuments  to  Wellington  and 
none  to  Shakspeare  or  Newton  ? — an  authority  which  awards 
to  the  door-keeper  of  its  House  of  Commons  £74  a  year 
more  than  to  its  astronomer  royal  ? 

If,  then,  public  opinion  is  so  fallible  a  test  of  relative 
merits,  where  shall  a  trustworthy  test  be  found  ?  Clearly, 
if  the  freedom  to  which  each  is  entitled  varies  with  his 
worth,  some  satisfactory  mode  of  estimating  worth  must  be 
discovered  before  any  settlement  of  men's  right  relation- 
ships can  become  possible.  Who  will  point  out  such  a 
mode  ? 

Even  were  a  still  further  admission  made — even  were  we 
to  assume  that  men's  respective  claims  could  be  fairly  rated 
— it  would  still  be  impossible  to  reduce  the  theory  of  unequal 
rights  to  practice.  We  should  yet  have  to  find  a  rule  by 
which  to  allot  these  different  shares  of  privilege.  Where  is 
the  scale  that  would  enable  us  to  mark  off  the  portion  proper 
for  each  individual  ?  Supposing  a  shopkeeper's  rights  to  be 
symbolized  by  ten  and  a  fraction,  what  number  will  repre- 
sent those  of  a  doctor  ?  What  multiple  are  the  liberties  of  a 
banker  of  those  of  a  seamstress  ?  Given  two  artists,  one  half 
as  clever  again  as  the  other,  it  is  required  to  find  the  limits 
within  which  each  may  exercise  his  faculties.  As  the  great- 


FIRST  PRINCIPLE.  59 

ness  of  a  prime  minister  is  to  that  of  a  ploughboy,  so  is  full 
freedom  of  action  to — the  desired  answer.  Here  are  a  few 
out  of  numberless  like  questions.  When  a  method  of  solving 
them  has  been  found,  it  will  be  time  enough  to  reconsider 
the  theory  of  unequal  rights. 


APPLICATION  OF  THIS  FIKST  PKINCIPLE. 

THE  process  by  which  we  may  develop  this  first  principle 
into  a  system  of  equity  is  sufficiently  obvious.  We  shall 
have  to  consider  of  every  deed,  whether  in  committing  it,  a 
man  does,  or  does  not,  trespass  on  the  freedom  of  his  neigh- 
bour— whether,  when  placed  side  by  side,  the  shares  of  lib- 
erty the  two  respectively  assume  are  equal.  And  by  thus 
separating  that  which  can  be  done  by  each  without  trenching 
on  the  liberties  of  others,  from  that  which  cannot  be  so  done, 
we  may  classify  actions  into  lawful  and  unlawful. 

Difficulties  may  now  and  then  occur  in  the  performance 
of  this  process.  We  shall  occasionally  find  ourselves  unable 
to  decide  whether  a  given  action  does  or  does  not  trespass 
against  the  law  of  equal  freedom.  But  such  an  admission  by 
no  means  implies  any  defect  in  that  law.  It  merely  implies 
human  incapacity — an  incapacity  which  puts  a  limit  to  our 
discovery  of  physical  truth  as  well  as  of  moral  truth.  It  is, 
for  instance,  beyond  the  power  of  any  mathematician  to  state 
in  degrees  and  minutes,  the  angle  at  which  a  man  may  lean 
without  falling.  Not  being  able  to  find  accurately  the  centre  of 
gravity  of  a  man's  body,  he  cannot  say  with  certainty  whether, 
at  a  given  inclination,  the  line  of  direction  will  or  will  not 
fall  outside  the  base.  But  we  do  not,  therefore,  take  excep- 
tion to  the  first  principles  of  mechanics.  In  spite  of  our 
inability  to  follow  out  those  first  principles  to  all  their  con- 
sequences, we  know  that  the  stability  or  instability  of  a  man's 


APPLICATION  OP  THIS  FIRST  PRINCIPLE.  61 

attitude  might  be  accurately  determined  by  them,  were  our 
perceptions  competent  to  take  in  all  the  data  of  such  a  prob- 
lem. Similarly,  it  is  argued  that,  although  there  may  arise 
out  of  the  more  complex  social  relationships,  questions  which 
are  apparently  not  soluble  by  comparing  the  respective 
amounts  of  freedom  the  concerned  persons  assume,  it  must 
nevertheless  be  granted  that,  whether  we  see  it  or  not,  the 
claims  they  make  are  either  equal  or  unequal,  and  the  depend- 
ent actions  right  or  wrong  accordingly. 


[NOTE. —  Up  to  the  point  now  reached,  the  omissions  and 
abridgments  have  not  much  disturbed  the  continuity  of  the 
general  argument.  But  what  here  follows  represents  in  only 
a  fragmentary  way  the  developed  applications  of  the  First 
Principle.  These  applications  have  since  been  replaced  by 
those  which,  in  a  matured  and  completed  form,  constitute 
the  greater  part  of  division  IV  of  The  Principles  of  Ethics, 
trotting  of  Justice.  Sundry  of  the  original  chapters  of  Social 
Statics,  which  came  next  after  the  foregoing,  are  now  omitted 
altogether;  others  are  much  shortened  /  and  of  the  remainder 
I  have  reproduced  only  fragments.  Throughout  the  last 
eight  chapters  of  the  work,  however,  the  primitive  continuity 
has  been  preserved :  abridgments  and  revisions  only  having 
been  made  in  them.] 


THE  EIGHT  OF  PROPERTY. 

THE  moral  law,  being  the  law  of  the  social  state,  is  obliged 
to  ignore  the  pre-social  state.  Constituting,  as  the  principles 
of  pure  morality  do,  a  code  of  conduct  for  the  perfectly  civ- 
ilized man,  they  cannot  be  make  to  adapt  themselves  to  the 
actions  of  the  uncivilized  man,  even  under  the  most  ingenious 
hypothetical  conditions — cannot  be  made  even  to  recognize 
those  actions  so  as  to  pass  any  definite  sentence  upon  them. 
Overlooking  this  fact,  thinkers,  in  their  attempts  to  prove 
some  of  the  first  theorems  of  ethics,  have  commonly  fallen 
into  the  error  of  referring  back  to  an  imaginary  state  of 
savage  wildness,  instead  of  referring 'forward  to  an  ideal  civ- 
ilization, as  they  should  have  done ;  and  have,  in  consequence, 
entangled  themselves  in  difficulties  arising  out  of  the  discord- 
ance between  ethical  principles  and  the  assumed  premises. 
To  this  circumstance  is  attributable  that  vagueness  by  which 
the  arguments  used  to  establish  the  right  of  property  in  a 
logical  manner,  are  characterized. 

"  Though  the  earth  and  all  inferior  creatures,"  says  Locke, 
"  be  common  to  all  men,  yet  every  man  has  a  property  in  his 
own  person :  this  nobody  has  a  right  to  but  himself.  The 
labour  of  his  body  and  the  work  of  his  hands,  we  may  say 
are  properly  his.  Whatever  then  he  removes  out  of  the 
state  that  nature  hath  provided  and  left  it  in,  he  hath  mixed 
his  labour  with,  and  joined  to  it  something  that  is  his  own, 
and  thereby  makes  it  his  property.  It  being  by  him  removed 
from  the  common  state  nature  hath  placed  it  in,  it  hath  by 


THE  RIGHT  OF  PROPERTY.  (53 

this  labour  something  annexed  to  it  that  excludes  the  com- 
mon right  of  other  men.  For  this  labour  being  the  unques- 
tionable property  of  the  labourer,  no  man  but  he  can  have 
a  right  to  what  that  is  once  joined  to,  at  least  when  there 
is  enough  and  as  good  left  in  common  for  others." 

One  might,  in  reply  to  this,  observe  that  as,  according  to 
the  premises,  "the  earth  and  all  inferior  creatures  are 
common  to  all  men,"  the  consent  of  all  men  must  be  ob- 
tained before  any  article  can  be  equitably  "  removed  from 
the  common  state  nature  hath  placed  it  in."  It  might  be 
argued  that  the  real  question  is  overlooked,  when  it  is  said 
that,  by  gathering  any  natural  product,  a  man  "  hath  mixed 
his  labour  with  it,  and  joined  to  it  something  that  is  his  own, 
and  thereby  made  it  his  property ; "  for  the  point  to  be  de- 
bated is,  whether  he  has  any  right  to  gather,  or  mix  his 
labour  with,  that  which,  by  the  hypothesis,  previously  be- 
longed to  mankind  at  large.  It  may  be  quite  true  that  the 
labour  a  man  expends  in  catching  or  gathering,  gives  him  a 
better  right  to  the  thing  caught  or  gathered,  than  any  one 
other  man ;  but  the  question  at  issue  is,  whether  by  labour 
so  expended,  he  has  made  his  right  to  the  thing  caught  or 
gathered,  greater  than  the  pre-existing  rights  of  all  other 
men  put  together. 

.Further  difficulties  are  suggested  by  the  qualification,  that 
the  claim  to  any  article  of  property  thus  obtained,  is  valid 
only  "  when  there  is  enough  and  as  good  left  in  common  for 
others."  A  condition  like  this  gives  birth  to  such  a  host  of 
queries,  doubts,  and  limitations,  as  practically  to  neutralize 
the  general  proposition  entirely.  It  may  be  asked,  for 
example — How  is  it  to  be  known  that  enough  is  "  left  in 
common  for  others  ? "  Who  can  determine  whether  what 
remains  is  "  as  good  "  as  what  is  taken  ?  How  if  the  rem- 
nant is  less  accessible  ?  If  there  is  not  enough  "  left  in 
common  for  others,"  how  must  the  right  of  appropriation  be 
exercised  ?  Why,  in  such  case,  does  the  mixing  of  labour 
with  the  acquired  object,  cease  to  "  exclude  the  common  right 


64  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

of  other  men  "  ?  Supposing  enough  to  be  attainable,  but  not 
all  equally  good,  by  what  rule  must  each  man  choose  ?  Out 
of  which  inquisition  it  seems  impossible  to  liberate  the 
alleged  right,  without  such  mutilations  as  to  render  it,  from 
an  ethical  point  of  view,  entirely  valueless. 

Thus,  as  already  hinted,  we  find  that  the  circumstances  of 
savage  life,  render  the  principles  of  abstract  morality  inap- 
plicable ;  for  it  is  impossible,  under  pre-social  conditions,  to 
determine  the  Tightness  or  wrongness  of  certain  actions  by 
comparing  the  amounts  of  freedom  assumed  by  those  con- 
cerned. 


SOCIALISM. 

THE  doctrine  that  all  men  have  equal  rights  to  the  use  of 
the  Earth,  seems  at  first  sight,  to  countenance  a  species  of 
social  organization,  at  variance  with  that  from  which  the 
right  of  property  has  just  been  deduced ;  *  an  organization, 
namely,  in  which  the  public,  instead  of  letting  out  the  land 
to  individual  members  of  their  body,  shall  retain  it  in  their 
own  hands;  cultivate  it  by  joint-stock  agency;  and  share 
the  produce :  in  fact,  what  is  usually  termed  Socialism  or 
Communism. 

Plausible  though  it  may  be,  such  a  scheme  is  not  capable 
of  realization  in  strict  conformity  with  the  moral  law.  Of 
the  two  forms  under  which  it  may  be  presented,  the  one  is 
ethically  imperfect,  and  the  other,  although  correct  in  theory, 
is  impracticable. 

Thus,  if  an  equal  portion  of  the  earth's  produce  is  awarded 
to  every  man,  irrespective  of  the  amount  or  quality  of  the 
labour  he  has  contributed  towards  the  obtainment  of  that 
produce,  a  breach  of  equity  is  committed.  Our  first  prin- 
ciple requires,  not  that  all  shall  have  like  shares  of  the  things 
which  minister  to  the  gratification  of  the  faculties,  but  that 
all  shall  have  like  freedoms  to  pursue  those  things — shall 
have  like  scope.  It  is  one  thing  to  give  to  each  an  oppor- 
tunity of  acquiring  the  objects  he  desires ;  it  is  another,  and 
quite  a  different  thing,  to  give  the  objects  themselves,  no 

*  Referring  to  an  omitted  part  of  the  last  chapter,  the  argument  of 
which,  with  modifications,  will  now  be  found  in  Part  IV  of  The  Principles 
of  Ethics. 


66  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

matter  whether  due  endeavour  has  or  has  not  been  made  to 
obtain  them.  Nay  more,  it  necessitates  an  absolute  violation 
of  the  principle  of  equal  freedom.  For  when  we  assert  the 
entire  liberty  of  each,  bounded  only  by  the  like  liberties  of 
all,  we  assert  that  each  is  free  to  do  whatever  his  desires  dic- 
tate, within  the  prescribed  limits — that  each  is  free,  therefore, 
to  claim  for  himself  all  those  gratifications,  and  sources  of 
gratification,  attainable  by  him  within  those  limits — all  those 
gratifications,  and  sources  of  gratification,  which  he  cap  pro- 
cure without  trespassing  on  the  spheres  of  action  of  his 
neighbours.  If,  therefore,  out  of  many  starting  with  like 
fields  of  activity,  one  obtains,  by  his  greater  strength,  greater 
ingenuity,  or  greater  application,  more  gratifications  and 
sources  of  gratification  than  the  rest,  and  does  this  without 
trenching  upon  the  equal  freedoms  of  the  rest,  the  moral  law 
assigns  him  an  exclusive  right  to  all  those  extra  gratifications 
and  sources  of  gratification ;  nor  can  the  rest  take  them  from 
him  without  claiming  for  themselves  greater  liberty  of  action 
than  he  claims,  and  thereby  violating  that  law.  Whence  it 
follows,  that  an  equal  apportionment  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth 
among  all,  is  not  consistent  with  pure  justice. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  each  is  to  have  allotted  to  him  a 
share  of  produce  proportionate  to  the  degree  in  which  he 
has  aided  production,  the  proposal,  while  it  is  abstractedly 
just,  is  no  longer  practicable.  Were  all  men  cultivators  of 
the  soil,  it  would  perhaps  be  possible  to  form  approximately 
true  estimates  of  their  several  claims.  But  to  ascertain  the 
respective  amounts  of  help  given  by  different  kinds  of  men- 
tal and  bodily  labourers,  towards  procuring  the  general  stock 
of  the  necessaries  of  life,  is  an  impossibility.  We  have  no 
means  of  making  such  a  division  save  that  afforded  by  the 
balancing  of  supply  and  demand,  and  this  the  hypothesis 
excludes. 

If,  as  M.  Proudhon  asserts,  "  all  property  is  robbery  " — 
if  no  one  can  equitably  become  the  exclusive  possessor  of  any 


SOCIALISM.  6T 

article,  or,  as  we  say,  obtain  a  right  to  it — then,  among  other 
consequences,  it  follows  that  a  man  can  have  no  right  to  the 
things  he  consumes  for  food.  And  if  these  are  not  his 
before  eating  them,  how  can  they  become  his  at  all '(  As 
Locke  asks,  "  when  do  they  begin  to  be  his  ?  when  he  digests  ? 
or  when  he  eats  ?  or  when  he  boils  ?  or  when  he  brings  them 
home  ? "  If  no  previous  acts  can  make  them  his  property, 
neither  can  any  process  of  assimilation  do  it :  not  even  ab- 
sorption of  them  into  the  tissues.  "Wherefore,  pursuing  the 
idea,  we  arrive  at  the  curious  conclusion,  that  as  the  whole  of 
his  bones,  muscles,  skin,  &c.,  have  been  thus  built  up  from 
nutriment  not  belonging  to  him,  a  man  has  no  property  in 
his  own  flesh  and  blood — has  no  more  claim  to  his  own  limbs 
than  he  has  to  the  limbs  of  another ;  and  has  as  good  a  right 
to  his  neighbour's  body  as  to  his  own !  Did  we  exist  after  the 
same  fashion  as  those  compound  polyps,  in  which  a  number 
of  individuals  are  based  upon  a  living  trunk  common  to  them 
all,  such  a  theory  would  be  rational  enough.  But  until  Com- 
munism can  be  carried  to  that  extent,  it  will  be  best  to  stand 
by  the  old  doctrine. 


THE  EIGHT  OF  PROPERTY  IN  IDEAS. 

THAT  a  man's  right  to  the  produce  of  his  brain  is  equally 
valid  with  his  right  to  the  produce  of  his  hands,  is  a  fact 
which  has  yet  obtained  but  a  very  imperfect  recognition.  It 
is  true  that  we  have  patent  laws,  a  law  of  copyright,  and  acts 
for  the  registration  of  designs ;  but  these,  or  at  any  rate  two 
of  them,  have  been  enacted  not  so  much  in  obedience  to  the 
dictates  of  justice,  as  in  deference  to  the  suggestions  of  trade- 
policy.  "  A  patent  is  not  a  thing  which  can  be  claimed  as  a 
right,"  we  are  told  by  legal  authorities,  but  is  intended  to 
"  act  as  a  stimulus  to  industry  and  talent."  It  is  not  because 
the  piracy  of  patterns  would  be  wrong  that  legislators  forbid 
it,  but  because  they  wish  to  afford  "  encouragement  to  manu- 
facturers." Similar  also  are  the  current  opinions.  Measures 
of  this  nature  are  commonly  considered  by  the  public  as  giv- 
ing to  inventors  a  certain  "privilege,"  a  "  reward,"  a  sort  of 
modified  "  monopoly." 

The  prevalence  of  such  a  belief  is  by  no  means  creditable 
to  the  national  conscience.  To  think  that  the  profits  which 
a  speculator  makes  by  a  rise  in  the  share-market,  should  be 
recognized  as  legally  and  equitably  his  property,  and  yet  that 
some  new  combination  of  ideas,  which  it  may  have  cost  an 
ingenious  man  years  of  application  to  complete,  cannot  be 
"  claimed  as  a  right "  by  that  man !  To  think  that  a  sine- 
curist  should  be  held  to  have  a  "  vested  interest "  in  his  office, 
and  a  just  title  to  compensation  if  it  is  abolished,  and  yet 
that  an  invention  over  which  no  end  of  mental  toil  has  been 


THE  RIGHT  OF  PROPERTY  IN  IDEAS.  69 

spent,  and  on  which  the  poor  mechanic  has  laid  out  perhaps 
his  last  sixpence — an  invention  which  he  has  completed  en- 
tirely by  his  own  labour  and  with  his  own  materials — has 
wrought,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  very  substance  of  his  own 
mind — bhould  not  be  acknowledged  as  his  property !  To 
think  that  his  title  to  it  should  be  admitted  merely  as  a  mat- 
ter of  convenience — admitted  even  then  only  on  payment  of 
some  £400 — and,  after  all,  quashed  on  the  most  trifling  pre- 
tences !  What  a  thick-skinned  perception  of  justice  does  this 
show !  One  would  think  that  equity  afforded  no  guidance 
beyond  transactions  in  material  things — weights,  measures, 
and  money.  Let  a  shop-boy  take  from  his  master's  till  a  vis- 
ible, tangible,  ponderable  sovereign,  and  all  can  see  that  the 
rights  of  ownership  have  been  violated.  Yet  those  who 
exclaim  with  such  indignant  virtue  against  theft,  will  pur- 
chase a  pirated  edition  of  a  book,  without  any  qualms  of 
conscience  concerning  the  receipt  of  stolen  goods.  Dis- 
honesty, when  shown  in  house-breaking  or  sheep-stealing,  is 
held  up  to  eternal  infamy  ;  but  the  manufacturer  who  steals 
his  foreman's  improved  plan  for  the  spinning  of  cotton,  or  the 
building  of  steam  engines,  continues  to  be  held  in  high  re- 
spect. The  law  is  active  enough  in  apprehending  the  urchin 
who  may  have  deprived  some  comfortable  citizen  of  his 
pocket-handkerchief ;  but  there  is  no  redress  for  the  poverty- 
stricken  schemer  who  is  robbed  by  some  wealthy  scamp  of 
that  which  formed  the  sole  hope  of  his  life. 

It  is  a  common  notion  that  the  exclusive  use  by  its  dis- 
coverer of  any  new  or  improved  mode  of  production,  is  a 
species  of  monopoly,  in  the  sense  in  which  that  word  is  con- 
ventionally used.  To  let  a  man  have  the  entire  benefit 
accruing  from  the  employment  of  some  more  efficient 
machine,  or  better  process  invented  by  him ;  and  to  allow 
no  other  person  to  adopt  and  apply  for  his  own  advantage 
the  same  plan,  they  hold  to  be  an  injustice.  Nor  are  there 
wanting  philanthropic  and  even  thinking  men,  who  consider 


ft)  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

that  the  valuable  ideas  originated  by  individuals  —  ideas 
which  may  be  of  great  national  advantage — should  be  taken 
out  of  private  hands  and  thrown  open  to  the  public  at 
large. 

"  And  pray,  gentlemen,"  an  inventor  might  fairly  reply, 
"why  may  not  I  make  the  same  proposal  respecting  your 
goods  and  chattels,  your  clothing,  your  houses,  your  railway 
shares,  and  your  money  in  the  funds  ?  If  you  are  right  in 
the  interpretation  you  give  to  the  term  '  monopoly,'  I  do  not 
see  why  that  term  should  not  be  applied  to  the  coats  on 
your  backs  and  the  provisions  on  your  dinner  tables.  With 
equal  reason  I  might  argue  that  you  unjustly  '  monopolize ' 
your  furniture,  and  that  you  ought  not  in  equity  to  have  the 
'  exclusive  use '  of  so  many  apartments.  If  '  national  advan- 
tage' is  to  be  the  supreme  rule,  why  should  we  not  appro- 
priate your  wealth,  and  the  wealth  of  others  like  you,  to  the 
liquidation  of  the  State-debt?  True,  as  you  say,  you  came 
honestly  by  all  this  property ;  but  so  did  I  by  my  invention. 
True,  as  you  say,  this  capital,  on  the  interest  of  which 
you  subsist,  was  acquired  by  years  of  toil — is  the  reward  of 
persevering  industry :  well,  I  may  say  the  like  of  this  machine. 
While  you  were  gathering  profits,  I  was  collecting  ideas ;  the 
time  you  spent  in  conning  the  prices  current,  was  employed 
by  me  in  studying  mechanics ;  your  speculations  in  new 
articles  of  merchandise,  answer  to  my  experiments,  many  of 
which  were  costly  and  fruitless  ;  when  you  were  writing  out 
your  accounts,  I  was  making  drawings ;  and  the  same  perse- 
verance, patience,  thought,  and  toil,  which  enabled  you  to 
make  a  fortune,  have  enabled  me  to  complete  my  invention. 
Like  your  wealth,  it  represents  so  much  accumulated  labour ; 
and  I  am  living  upon  the  profits  it  produces  me,  just  as  you 
are  living  upon  the  interest  of  your  invested  savings.  Be- 
ware, then,  how  you  question  my  claim.  If  I  am  a 
monopolist,  so  also  are  you ;  so  also  is  every  man.  If  I 
have  no  right  to  these  products  of  my  brain,  neither 
have  you  to  those  of  your  hands.  No  one  can  become  the 


THE  RIGHT  OF  PROPERTY  IN  IDEAS.  ft 

sole  owner  of  any  article   whatever;  and  all  property  is 
'  robbery.' " 

They  fall  into  a  serious  error  who  suppose  that  the  exclu- 
sive right  assumed  by  a  discoverer,  is  something  taken  from 
the  public.  He  who  in  any  way  increases  the  powers  of  pro- 
duction, is  seen  by  all,  save  a  few  insane  Luddites,  to  be  a 
general  benefactor.  The  successful  inventor  makes  a  further 
conquest  over  nature.  He  economizes  labour — helps  to 
emancipate  men  from  their  slavery  to  the  needs  of  the  body. 
He  cannot,  if  he  would,  prevent  society  from  largely  partici- 
pating in  his  good  fortune.  Before  he  can  gain  any  benefit 
from  his  new  process  or  apparatus,  he  must  first  confer  a 
benefit  on  his  fellow  men — must  either  offer  them  a  better 
article  at  the  price  usually  charged,  or  the  same  article  at  a 
less  price.  If  he  fails  to  do  this,  his  invention  is  a  dead 
letter ;  if  he  does  it,  he  makes  society  a  partner  in  the  new 
mine  of  wealth  he  has  opened. 

Let  us  remember,  too,  that  in  this,  as  in  other  cases, 
disobedience  to  the  moral  law  is  ultimately  detrimental 
to  all.  It  is  a  well-proved  fact  that  the  insecurity  of  material 
property  which  results  from  general  dishonesty,  inevitably 
reacts  to  the  punishment  of  society.  Industrial  energy  dimin- 
ishes in  proportion  to  the  uncertainty  of  its  reward.  Those 
who  do  not  know  that  they  shall  reap  will  not  sow.  Instead 
of  employing  it  in  business,  capitalists  hoard  what  they  pos- 
sess, because  productive  investments  are  dangerous.  Hence 
arises  a  universal  straitness  of  means.  Every  enterprise  is 
crippled  by  want  of  confidence.  And  from  general  dis- 
trust spring  general  discouragement,  apathy,  idleness,  pov- 
erty, and  their  attendant  miseries,  involving  alike  all  grades 
of  men.  Similar  in  kind,  and  less  only  in  degree,  is  the 
curse  attendant  upon  insecurity  of  property  in  ideas.  "  If," 
argues  the  inventor,  "  others  are  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  these 
wearisome  studies  and  these  numberless  experiments,  why 
should  I  continue  them  ?  If,  in  addition  to  all  the  possibili- 


72  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

ties  of  failure  in  the  scheme  itself,  all  the  time,  trouble,  and 
expense  of  my  investigations,  I  am  liable  to  be  deprived  of 
my  right,  I  ought  to  abandon  the  project  at  once."  And 
although  such  reflections  may  often  fail  to  extinguish  the 
sanguine  hopes  of  an  inventor,  yet  after  having  once  suffered 
the  tosses  which,  ten  to  one,  society  will  inflict  upon  him,  he 
will  take  good  care  never  again  to  enter  on  a  similar  under- 
taking. Whatever  other  ideas  he  may  then  or  subsequently 
entertain  will  remain  undeveloped  and  probably  die  with  him. 
Were  people  duly  to  appreciate  the  consequent  check  put  on 
the  development  of  the  means  of  production,  and  could  they 
properly  estimate  the  loss  thereby  entailed  on  themselves, 
they  would  begin  to  see  that  the  recognition  of  the  right  of 
property  in  ideas,  is  only  less  important  than  the  recognition 
of  the  right  of  property  in  goods. 

In  consequence  of  the  probability,  or  perhaps  we  may  say 
the  certainty,  that  the  causes  leading  to  the  evolution  of 
a  new  idea  in  our  mind,  will  eventually  produce  a  like  result 
in  some  other  mind^  the  claim  above  set  forth  must  not 
be  admitted  without  limitation.  Many  have  remarked  the 
tendency  which  exists  for  an  invention  or  discovery  to  be 
made  by  independent  investigators  nearly  at  the  same  time. 
There  is  nothing  really  mysterious  in  this.  A  certain  state 
of  knowledge,  a  recent  advancement  in  science,  the  occur- 
rence of  some  new  social  want, — these  form  the  conditions  un- 
der which  minds  of  similar  characters  are  stimulated  to  like 
trains  of  thought,  ending  as  they  are  prone  to  do  in  kindred 
results.  Such  being  the  fact,  there  arises  a  qualification  to 
the  right  of  property  in  ideas,  which  it  seems  difficult  and 
even  impossible  to  specify  definitely.  The  laws  of  patent 
and  copyright  express  this  qualification  by  confining  the  in- 
ventor's or  author's  privilege  within  a  certain  term  of  years. 
But  in  what  way  the  length  of  that  term  may  be  found  with 
correctness  there  is  no  saying. 


THE  EIGHTS  OF  WOMEN. 

"Wnoso  urges  the  mental  inferiority  of  women  in  bar  of 
their  claim  to  equal  rights  with  men,  may  be  met  in  various 
ways. 

1.  If  rights  are  to  be  meted  out  to  the  two  sexes  in  the 
ratio  of  their  respective  amounts  of  intelligence,  then  must 
the  same  system  be  acted  upon  in  the  apportionment  of  rights 
between  man  and  man.     Whence  must  proceed  all  those  mul- 
tiplied perplexities  already  pointed  out.     (See  p.  58.) 

2.  In  like  manner  it  will  follow  that,  as  there  are  here 
and  there  women  of  unquestionably  greater  ability  than  the 
average  of  men,  some  women  ought  to  have  greater  rights 
than  some  men. 

3.  AVherefore,  instead  of  a  certain  fixed   allotment  of 
rights  to  all  males  and  another  to  all  females,  the  hypothesis 
itself  involves  an  infinite  gradation  of  rights,  irrespective  of 
sex  entirely,  and  sends  us  once  more  in  search  of  those  unat- 
tainable desiderata — a  standard  by  which  to  measure  capacity, 
and  another  by  which  to  measure  rights. 

Not  only,  however,  does  the  theory  thus  fall  to  pieces 
under  the  mere  process  of  inspection ;  it  is  absurd  on  the 
face  of  it,  when  freed  from  the  disguise  of  hackneyed  phrase- 
ology. For  what  is  it  that  we  mean  by  rights  ?  Nothing 
else  than  freedom  to  exercise  the  faculties.  And  what  is  the 
meaning  of  the  assertion  that  woman  is  mentally  inferior  to 
man  ?  Simply  that  her  faculties  are  less  powerful.  What 
then  does  the  dogma,  that  because  woman  is  mentally  infe- 


74  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

rior  to  man  she  has  less  extensive  rights,  amount  to  ?  Just 
this, — that  because  woman  has  weaker  faculties  than  man, 
she  ought  not  to  have  like  liberty  with  him  to  exercise  the 
faculties  she  has  ! 

Men's  wishes  eventually  get  expressed  in  their  faiths — 
their  real  faiths,  that  is ;  not  their  merely  nominal  ones.  A 
fiery  passion  consumes  all  evidences  opposed  to  its  gratifica- 
tion, and  fusing  together  those  that  serve  its  purpose,  casts 
them  into  weapons  by  which  to  achieve  its  end.  There  is  no 
deed  so  vicious  but  what  the  actor  excuses  to  himself  ;  and  if 
the  deed  is  often  repeated  the  excuse  becomes  a  creed.  The 
vilest  transactions — Bartholomew  massacres  and  the  like — 
have  had  defenders ;  nay,  have  been  inculcated  as  fulfilments 
of  the  divine  will.  There  is  wisdom  in  the  fable  which  rep- 
resents the  wolf  as  raising  accusations  against  the  lamb  before 
devouring  it.  No  invader  ever  raised  standard,  but  persuaded 
himself  that  he  had  a  just  cause.  Sacrifices  and  prayers  have 
preceded  every  military  expedition,  from  one  of  Caesar's  cam- 
paigns down  to  a  border  foray.  God  is  on  our  side,  is  the 
universal  cry.  Each  of  two  conflicting  nations  consecrates 
its  flags ;  and  whichever  conquers  sings  a  Te  Deum.  Attila 
conceived  himself  to  have  a  "  divine  claim  to  the  dominion 
of  the  Earth ; "  the  Spaniards  subdued  the  Indians  under 
plea  of  converting  them  to  Christianity,  hanging  thirteen  re- 
fractory ones  in  honour  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles ; 
and  we  English  justify  our  colonial  aggressions  by  saying 
that  the  Creator  intends  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  to  people  the 
world  !  An  insatiate  lust  of  conquest  transmutes  manslaying 
into  a  virtue ;  and,  in  more  races  than  one,  implacable  revenge 
has  made  assassination  a  duty.  A  clever  theft  was  praise- 
worthy among  the  Spartans ;  and  it  is  equally  so  among 
Christians,  provided  it  be  on  a  sufficiently  large  scale.  Piracy 
was  heroism  with  Jason  and  his  followers ;  was  so  also  with 
the  Norsemen;  is  so  still  with  the  Malays;  and  there  is 
never  wanting  some  golden  fleece  for  a  pretext.  Among 
money-hunting  people  a  man  is  commended  in  proportion  to 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN.  75 

the  number  of  hours  he  spends  in  business.  In  our  day  the 
rage  for  accumulation  has  apotheosized  work.  And  even 
the  miser  is  not  without  a  code  of  morals  by  which  to  defend 
his  parsimony.  The  monks  held  printing  to  be  an  invention 
of  the  devil ;  and  some  of  our  modern  sectaries  regard  their 
refractory  brethren  as  under  demoniacal  possession. 

This  sway  of  feeling  over  belief  everywhere  determines 
men's  ideas  about  their  relations  to  women,  which  are  harsh 
in  proportion  as  the  social  state  is  barbarous.  Look  where 
we  will,  we  find  that  just  as  far  as  the  law  of  the  strongest 
regulates  the  relationships  between  man  and  man,  does  it 
regulate  the  relationships  between  man  and  woman.  Des- 
potism in  the  state  is  associated  with  despotism  in  the  family. 
Turkey,  Egypt,  India,  China,  Russia,  the  feudal  states  of 
Europe — it  needs  but  to  name  these  to  suggest  hosts  of  illus- 
trative facts. 

The  arbitrary  rule  of  one  human  being  over  another,  is 
fast  becoming  recognized  as  essentially  rude  and  brutal.  In 
our  day,  the  man  of  refined  feeling  does  not  like  to  play  the 
despot  over  his  fellow.  He  is  disgusted  if  one  in  humble 
circumstances  cringes  to  him.  So  far  from  wishing  to  elevate 
himself  by  depressing  his  poor  and  ignorant  neighbours,  he 
strives  to  put  them  at  their  ease  in  his  presence — encourages 
them  to  behave  in  a  less  submissive  and  more  self-respecting 
manner.  He  feels  that  a  fellow-man  may  be  enslaved  by 
imperious  words  and  manners  as  well  as  by  tyrannical  deeds ; 
and  hence  he  avoids  a  dictatorial  style  of  speech  to  those 
below  him.  Even  paid  domestics,  to  whose  services  he  has 
obtained  a  right  by  contract,  he  does  not  like  to  address  in  a 
tone  of  authority.  He  seeks  rather  to  disguise  his  character 
of  master ;  to  this  end  wraps  up  his  commands  in  the  shape 
of  requests ;  and  continually  employs  the  phrases,  "  If  you 
please,"  and  "  Thank  you." 

In  the  conduct  of  the  modern  gentleman  to  his  friend,  we 
have  additional  signs  of  this  growing  respect  for  another's 


76  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

dignity.  Every  one  must  have  observed  the  carefulness  with 
which  those  who  are  on  terms  of  affectionate  intimacy,  shun 
anything  in  the  form  of  supremacy  on  either  side,  or  en- 
deavour to  banish  from  remembrance,  by  their  behaviour  to 
each  other,  whatever  of  supremacy  there  may  exist.  Who  is 
there  that  has  not  witnessed  the  dilemma  in  which  the  wealth- 
ier of  two  such  is  sometimes  placed,  between  the  wish  to 
confer  a  benefit  on  the  other,  and  the  fear  that  in  so  doing  he 
may  offend  by  assuming  the  attitude  of  a  patron  ?  And  who 
is  there  that  does  not  feel  how  destructive  it  would  be  of  the 
sentiment  subsisting  between  himself  and  his  friend,  were  he 
to  play  the  master  over  his  friend,  or  his  friend  to  play  the 
master  over  him  ? 

A  further  increase  of  this  same  refinement  will  show 
men  that  there  is  a  fatal  incongruity  between  the  matrimonial 
servitude  which  our  law  recognizes,  and  the  relation  that 
ought  to  exist  between  husband  and  wife.  Surely  if  he  who 
possesses  any  generosity  of  nature  dislikes  speaking  to  a 
hired  domestic  in  a  tone  of  authority — if  he  cannot  bear 
assuming  towards  his  friend  the  behaviour  of  a  superior — 
how  utterly  repugnant  to  him  should  it  be,  to  make  himself 
ruler  over  one  on  whose  behalf  all  his  kindly  sentiments  are 
specially  enlisted,  and  for  whose  rights  and  dignity  he  ought 
to  have  the  most  active  sympathy ! 

Command  is  a  blight  to  the  affections.  Whatsoever  of 
beauty — whatsoever  of  poetry,  there  is  in  the  passion  that 
unites  the  sexes,  withers  up  and  dies  in  the  cold  atmosphere 
of  authority.  Native  as  they  are  to  such  widely-separated 
regions  of  our  nature,  Love  and  Coercion  cannot  possibly 
flourish  together.  Love  is  sympathetic :  Coercion  is  callous. 
Love  is  gentle  :  Coercion  is  harsh.  Love  is  self-sacrificing : 
Coercion  is  selfish.  How  then  can  they  co-exist  ?  It  is  the 
property  of  the  first  to  attract,  while  it  is  that  of  the  last  to 
repel ;  and,  conflicting  as  they  thus  do,  it  is  the  constant  ten- 
dency of  each  to  destroy  the  other.  Let  whoever  thinks  the 
two  compatible  imagine  himself  acting  the  master  over  his 


THE  RIGHTS  OP  WOMEN.  77 

betrothed.  Does  lie  believe  that  he  could  do  this  without 
any  injury  to  the  subsisting  relationship  ?  Does  he  not  know 
rather  that  a  bad  eft'ect  would  be  produced  upon  the  feelings 
of  both  by  the  assumption  of  such  an  attitude  ?  And  confess- 
ing this,  as  he  must,  is  he  superstitious  enough  to  suppose 
that  the  going  through  a  form  of  words  will  render  harmless 
that  use  of  command  which  was  previously  hurtful  ? 

There  are  many  who  think  that  authority,  and  its  ally 
compulsion,  are  the  sole  agencies  by  which  human  beings 
can  be  controlled.  Anarchy  or  government  are,  with  them, 
the  only  conceivable  alternatives.  Believing  in  nothing 
but  what  they  see,  they  cannot  realize  the  possibility  of  a 
condition  of  things  in  which  peace  and  order  shall  be  main- 
tained without  force,  or  the  fear  of  force.  By  such  as  these, 
the  doctrine  that  the  reign  of  man  over  woman  is  wrong,  will 
no  doubt  be  combated  on  the  ground  that  the  domestic 
relationship  can  only  exist  by  the  help  of  such  supremacy. 
The  impracticability  of  an  equality  of  rights  between  the 
sexes  will  be  urged  by  them  in  disproof  of  its  rectitude.  It 
will  be  argued  that  were  they  put  upon  a  level,  husband  and 
wife  would  be  for  ever  in  antagonism — that  as,  when  their 
wishes  clashed,  each  would  possess  a  like  claim  to  have  his 
or  her  way,  the  matrimonial  bond  would  daily  be  endangered 
by  the  jar  of  opposing  wills,  and  that,  involving  as  it  would 
a  perpetual  conflict,  such  an  arrangement  of  married  life 
must  necessarily  be  an  erroneous  one. 

A  very  superficial  conclusion  this.  It  has  been  already 
pointed  out  (p.  26),  that  there  must  be  an  inconsistency 
between  the  perfect  law  and  an  imperfect  state.  The  worse 
the  condition  of  society  the  more  visionary  must  a  true  code 
of  morality  appear.  The  fact  that  any  proposed  principle  of 
conduct  is  at  once  fully  practicable — requires  no  reformation 
of  human  nature  for  its  complete  realization — is  not  a  proof 
of  its  truth  :  is  proof  rather  of  its  error.  And,  conversely,  a 
certain  degree  of  incongruity  between  such  a  principle  and 


78  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

humanity  as  we  know  it,  though  no  proof  of  the  correctness 
of  that  principle,  is  at  any  rate  a  fact  in  its  favour.  Hence 
the  allegation  that  mankind  are  not  good  enough  to  admit 
of  the  sexes  living  together  harmoniously  under  the  law  of 
equal  freedom,  in  no  way  militates  against  the  validity  or 
sacredness  of  that  law. 

But  the  never-ceasing  process  of  adaptation  will  gradually 
remove  this  obstacle  to  domestic  rectitude.  Recognition  of 
the  moral  law  and  an  impulse  to  act  up  to  it,  going  hand  in 
hand,  as  we  have  seen  that  they  must  do  (p.  20),  equality  of 
rights  in  the  married  state  will  become  possible  as  fast  as 
there  arises  a  perception  of  its  justness.  As  elsewhere  shown 
(p.  50),  the  same  sentiment  which  leads  us  to  maintain  our 
own  rights,  leads  us,  by  its  sympathetic  excitement,  to  respect 
the  rights  of  our  neighbours.  A  state  in  which  every  one  is 
jealous  of  his  natural  claims,  is  not  therefore  a  litigious  state, 
because  if  there  is  a  due  fellow  feeling  there  is  of  necessity  a 
diminished  tendency  to  aggression.  Experience  proves  this. 
For,  as  it  cannot  be  denied  that  there  is  now  a  greater  dis- 
position among  men  towards  the  assertion  of  individual 
liberty  than  existed  during  the  feudal  ages,  so  neither  can 
it  be  denied  that  there  is  now  a  less  disposition  among  men 
to  trespass  against  each  other  than  was  then  exhibited.  The 
two  changes  are  co-ordinate,  and  must  continue  to  be  so. 
Hence,  whenever  society  shall  have  become  civilized  enough 
to  recognize  the  equality  of  rights  between  the  sexes — when 
women  shall  have  attained  to  a  clear  perception  of  what  is 
due  to  them,  and  men  to  a  nobility  of  feeling  which  shall 
make  them  concede  to  women  the  freedom  which  they  them- 
selves claim — humanity  will  have  undergone  such  a  modifica- 
tion as  to  render  an  equality  of  rights  practicable. 

Married  life  under  this  ultimate  state  of  things  will  not  be 
characterized  by  perpetual  squabbles,  but  by  mutual  con- 
cessions. Instead  of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  husband 
to  assert  his  claims  to  the  uttermost,  regardless  of  those  of 
his  wife,  or  on  the  part  of  the  wife  to  do  the  like,  there 


THE  RIGHTS  OP  WOMEN.  79 

will  be  a  watchful  desire  on  both  sides  not  to  transgress. 
Neither  will  have  to  stand  on  the  defensive,  because  each 
will  be  solicitous  for  the  rights  of  the  other.  Committing 
a  trespass  will  be  the  thing  feared,  and  not  the  being  tres- 
passed against. 

[NOTE. — For  the  author's  views  concerning  the  political 
position  of  women,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Part  IV  of  The 
Principles  of  JZthics,  treating  of  Justice,  Chapters  xx  and 
xxiv.] 


THE  EIGHTS  OF  CHILDEEK 

As  an  abstract  truth  we  all  admit  that  passion  distorts 
judgment ;  yet  we  never  inquire  whether  our  passions  are 
influencing  us.  We  all  decry  prejudice,  yet  are  all  prejudiced. 
"We  see  how  habits,  and  interests,  and  likings,  mould  the 
theories  of  those  around  us ;  yet  forget  that  our  own  theories 
are  similarly  moulded.  Nevertheless,  the  instances  in  which 
our  feelings  bias  us  in  spite  of  ourselves  are  of  hourly  recur- 
rence. That  proprietary  passion  which  a  man  has  for  his 
ideas,  veils  their  defects  from  him  as  effectually  as  maternal 
fondness  blinds  a  mother  to  the  imperfections  of  her  offspring. 
An  author  cannot,  for  the  life  of  him,  judge  correctly  of  what 
he  has  just  written :  he  has  to  wait  until  lapse  of  time 
enables  him  to  read  it  as  though  it  were  a  stranger's,  and  he 
then  discerns  flaws  where  all  had  seemed  perfect.  It  is  only 
when  his  enthusiasm  on  its  behalf  has  grown  cold,  that  the 
artist  is  able  to  see  the  faults  of  his  picture.  While  they  are 
transpiring,  we  do  not  perceive  the  ultimate  bearings  of  our 
own  acts  or  the  acts  of  others  towards  us :  only  in  after  years 
are  we  able  to  philosophize  upon  them.  Just  so,  too,  is  it 
with  successive  generations.  Men  of  the  past  quite  mis- 
understood the  institutions  they  lived  under.  They  perti- 
naciously adhered  to  the  most  vicious  principles,  and  were 
bitter  in  their  opposition  to  right  ones,  at  the  dictates  of  their 
attachments  and  antipathies.  So  difficult  is  it  for  man  to 
emancipate  himself  from  the  invisible  fetters  which  habit  and 
education  cast  over  his  intellect ;  and  so  palpable  is  the  con- 
sequent incompetency  of  a  people  to  judge  rightly  of  itself 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  CHILDREN.  81 

and  its  deeds  or  opinions,  that  the  fact  has  been  embodied  in 
the  aphorism — "  No  age  can  write  its  own  history." 

If  we  act  wisely,  we  shall  assume  that  the  reasonings  of 
modern  society  are  subject  to  the  like  disturbing  influences. 
We  shall  conclude  that,  even  now,  as  in  times  gone  by,  opin- 
ion is  but  the  counterpart  of  condition.  We  shall  suspect 
that  many  of  those  convictions  which  seem  the  results  of  dis- 
passionate thinking,  have  been  nurtured  in  us  by  circum- 
stances. We  shall  confess  that  as,  heretofore,  fanatical  op- 
position to  this  doctrine  and  bigoted  adhesion  to  that,  have 
been  no  tests  of  the  truth  or  falsity  of  the  said  doctrines ;  so 
neither  is  the  strength  of  attachment  or  dislike  which  a  nation 
now  exhibits  towards  certain  principles,  any  proof  of  their 
correctness  or  their  fallacy. 

We  say  that  a  man's  character  may  be  told  by  the  com- 
pany he  keeps.  We  might  similarly  say  that  the  truth  of  a 
belief  may  be  judged  by  the  beliefs  with  which  it  is  associ- 
ated. Given  a  theory  universally  current  among  degraded 
sections  of  our  race — a  theory  received  only  with  consider- 
able abatements  by  civilized  nations — a  theory  in  which  men's 
confidence  diminishes  as  fast  as  society  advances;  and  we 
may  safely  pronounce  that  theory  to  be  a  false  one.  On 
such,  along  with  other  evidence,  the  subordination  of  sex  was 
lately  condemned.  Those  commonly-observed  facts,  that  the 
enslavement  of  woman  is  invariably  associated  with  a  low 
type  of  social  life,  and  that,  conversely,  her  elevation  uni- 
formly accompanies  progress,  were  cited  in  part  proof  that 
the  subjection  of  female  to  male  is  wrong.  If  now,  instead 
of  women  we  read  children,  kindred  facts  may  be  cited,  and 
a  kindred  deduction  may  be  drawn.  If  it  be  true  that  the 
dominion  of  man  over  woman  has  been  oppressive  in  propor- 
tion to  the  badness  of  the  age  or  the  people,  it  is  also  true 
that  parental  authority  has  been  stringent  and  unlimited  in  a 
like  proportion.  If  it  be  a  fact  that  the  emancipation  of 
women  has  kept  pace  with  the  emancipation  of  society,  it  is 


82  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

likewise  a  fact  that  the  once  despotic  rule  of  the  old  over  the 
young  has  been  ameliorated  at  the  same  rate. 

"Whoever  wants  illustrations  of  this  alleged  harmony  be- 
tween the  political,  connubial,  and  filial  relationships,  may 
discover  them  everywhere.  Scanning  those  primitive  states 
of  humanity  during  which  the  aggressive  conduct  of  man 
to  man  renders  society  scarcely  possible,  he  will  see  not  only 
that  wives  are  slaves  and  exist  by  sufferance,  but  that  children 
hold  their  lives  by  the  same  tenure,  and  are  sacrificed  to  the 
gods  when  fathers  so  will.  He  may  observe  how,  during 
classic  times,  the  thraldom  of  five-sixths  of  the  population 
was  accompanied  both  by  a  theory  that  the  child  is  the  prop- 
erty and  slave  of  its  male  parent,  and  by  a  legal  fiction  which 
regarded  wives  as  children  similarly  owned.  In  China,  under 
a  government  purely  autocratic,  there  exists  a  public  opinion 
which  deems  it  an  unpardonable  offence  for  a  wife  to  accuse 
her  husband  to  the  magistrate,  and  which  ranks  filial  disobe- 
dience as  a  crime  next  in  atrocity  to  murder.  Nor  is  our 
own  history  barren  of  illustrations.  On  reviewing  those 
times  when  constitutional  liberty  was  but  a  name,  when  men 
were  denied  freedom  of  speech  and  belief,  when  the  people's 
representatives  were  openly  bribed  and  justice  was  bought — 
the  times,  too,  with  which  the  laws  enacting  the  servitude  of 
women  were  in  complete  harmony — the  observer  cannot  fail 
to  be  struck  with  the  harshness  of  parental  behaviour,  and 
the  attitude  of  hujpble  subjection  which  sons  and  daughters 
had  to  assume.  Between  the  last  century,  when  our  domes- 
tic condition  was  marked  by  the  use  of  Sir  and  Madam  in 
addressing  parents,  and  by  the  doctrine  that  a  child  ought 
unhesitatingly  to  marry  whomsoever  a  father  appointed,  and 
when  our  political  condition  was  marked  by  aristocratic 
supremacy,  by  the  occurrence  of  church-and-king  riots,  and 
by  the  persecution  of  reformers — between  that  day  and  ours, 
the  decline  in  the  rigour  of  paternal  authority  and  in  the 
severity  of  political  control,  has  been  simultaneous.  And 
the  like  companionship  of  facts  is  seen  in  the  present  rapid 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  CHILDREN.  S3 

growth  of  democratic  feeling,  and  the  equally  rapid  spread 
of  a  milder  system  of  juvenile  training. 

Considering  what  universal  attention  the  culture  of  the 
young  has  lately  received,  there  is  reason  for  concluding  that 
as  the  use  of  brute  force  for  educational  purposes  has  greatly 
declined,  something  radically  wrong  must  be  involved  in  it. 
But  without  dwelling  upon  this,  which,  like  all  inferences 
drawn  from  expediency,  is  liable  to  have  its  premises  called 
in  question,  let  us  judge  of  coercive  education  not  by  the 
effects  it  is  believed  to  produce,  but  by  those  it  must  produce. 

Education  has  for  a  chief  object  the  formation  of  charac- 
ter. To  curb  restive  propensities,  to  awaken  dormant  senti- 
ments, to  strengthen  the  perceptions  and  cultivate  the  tastes, 
to  encourage  this  feeling  and  repress  that,  so  as  finally  to 
develop  the  child  into  a  man  of  well  proportioned  and  har- 
monious nature — this  is  alike  the  aim  of  parent  and  teacher. 
Those,  therefore,  who  advocate  coercion  in  the  management 
of  children,  must  do  so  because  they  think  it  the  best  means 
of  compassing  the  desired  object — formation  of  character. 
Paternity  has  to  devise  some  kind  of  rule  for  the  nursery. 
Impelled  partly  by  creed,  partly  by  custom,  partly  by  inclina- 
tion, paternity  decides  in  favour  of  a  pure  despotism,  and 
exhibits  the  rod  as  the  final  arbiter  in  all  disputes.  And  of 
course  this  system  of  discipline  is  defended  as  the  one  best 
calculated  to  curb  restive  propensities,  awaken  dormant,  senti- 
ments, &c.,  as  aforesaid.  Suppose,  now,  we  ask  how  the  plan 
works.  An  unamiable  little  urchin  is  pursuing  his  own  gratifi- 
cation regardless  of  the  comfort  of  others — is  perhaps  annoy- 
ingly  vociferous  in  his  play  ;  or  is  amusing  himself  by  teasing 
a  companion  ;  or  is  trying  to  monopolize  the  toys  intended  for 
others  in  common  with  himself.  Well ;  some  kind  of  inter- 
position is  manifestly  called  for.  Paternity  with  knit  brows 
and  in  a  severe  tone,  commands  desistance — visits  anything 
like  reluctant  submission  with  a  sharp  "  Do  as  I  bid  you  " — if 
need  be,  hints  at  a  whipping  or  the  black  hole.  After  sun- 
dry exhibitions  of  perverse  feeling,  the  child  gives  in  ;  show- 


84  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

ing,  however,  by  its  sullenness  the  animosity  it  entertains. 
Meanwhile  paternity  pokes  the  fire  and  complacently  resumes 
the  newspaper,  under  the  impression  that  all  is  as  it  should 
be.  Most  unfortunate  mistake ! 

If  the  thing  wanted  had  been  the  mere  repression  of 
noise,  or  the  mechanical  transfer  of  a  plaything,  perhaps  no 
better  course  could  have  been  pursued.  Had  it  been  of  no 
consequence  under  what  impulse  the  child  acted,  so  long  as  it 
fulfilled  a  given  mandate,  nothing  would  remain  to  be  said. 
But  something  else  was  needed.  It  was  not  the  deeds,  but 
the  feeling  from  which  the  deeds  sprung  that  required  deal- 
ing with.  Here  were  palpable  manifestations  of  selfishness 
— exhibitions  on  a  small  scale  of  that  unsympathetic  nature 
to  which  our  social  evils  are  mainly  attributable.  What, 
then,  was  the  thing  wanted  ?  Clearly  to  generate  a  state  of 
mind  which,  had  it  previously  existed,  would  have  prevented 
the  offending  actions.  Or,  speaking  definitely,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  strengthen  that  sympathy  to  the  weakness  of  which 
the  ill  behaviour  was  traceable. 

But  sympathy  can  be  strengthened  only  by  exercise.  No 
faculty  whatever  will  grow,  save  by  the  performance  of  its 
special  function — a  muscle  by  contraction  ;  the  intellect  by 
perceiving  and  thinking ;  a  moral  sentiment  by  feeling.  Sym- 
pathy, therefore,  can  be  increased  only  by  exciting  sympathet- 
ic emotions.  A  selfish  child  is  to  be  rendered  less  selfish,  only 
by  arousing  in  it  a  fellow-feeling  with  the  desires  of  others. 

Observe,  then,  how  the  case  stands.  A  grasping  hard- 
natured  boy  is  to  be  humanized ;  and  to  this  end  it  is  pro- 
posed to  use  frowns,  threats,  and  the  stick !  To  stimulate 
that  faculty  which  originates  our  regard  for  the  happiness  of 
others,  we  are  told  to  inflict  pain,  or  the  fear  of  pain !  The 
problem  is  to  generate  in  a  child's  mind  more  fellow-feeling ; 
and  the  answer  is — beat  it,  or  send  it  supperless  to  bed ! 

Let  those  who  have  no  faith  in  any  instrumentalities  for 
the  rule  of  human  beings  save  the  stern  will  and  the  strong 


THE  RIGHTS  OP  CHILDREN.  85 

hand,  visit  the  Han  well  Asylum  for  the  insane.  Let  all  self- 
styled  practical  men,  who,  in  the  pride  of  their  semi-savage 
theories,  shower  sarcasms  upon  the  movements  for  peace,  for 
the  abolition  of  capital  punishments,  and  the  like,  go  and 
witness  to  their  confusion  how  a  thousand  lunatics  can  be 
managed  without  the  use  of  force.  Let  these  sneerers  at 
"  sentimentalisms "  reflect  on  the  horrors  of  madhouses  as 
they  used  to  be ;  where  was  weeping  and  wailing  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth,  where  chains  clanked  dismally,  and  where  the 
silence  of  the  night  was  rent  by  shrieks  that  made  the  be- 
lated passer-by  hurry  on  shudderingly.  Let  them  contrast 
with  these  horrors  the  calmness,  the  contentment,  the  tracta- 
bility,  the  improved  health  of  mind  and  body,  and  the  not 
unfrequent  recoveries,  that  have  followed  the  abandonment 
of  the  strait-jacket  regime :  *  and  then  let  them  blush  for 
their  creed. 

And  shall  the  poor  maniac,  with  diseased  feelings  and  a 
warped  intellect,  persecuted  as  he  constantly  is  by  the  sug- 
gestions of  a  morbid  imagination, — shall  a  being  with  a  mind 
so  hopelessly  chaotic  that  even  the  most  earnest  pleader  for 
human  rights  would  make  his  case  an  exception, — shall  he  be 
amenable  to  a  non-coercive  treatment,  and  shall  a  child  not  be 
amenable  to  it  ?  Will  any  one  maintain  that  madmen  can 
be  managed  by  suasion  but  not  children?  that  moral-force 
methods  are  best  for  those  deprived  of  reason,  but  physical- 
force  methods  for  those  possessing  it?  Hardly.  If  by 
judicious  conduct  the  confidence  even  of  the  insane  may  be 
obtained— if  even  to  the  beclouded  intelligence  of  a  lunatic, 
kind  attentions  and  a  sympathetic  manner  will  carry  the 
conviction  that  he  is  surrounded  by  friends  and  not  by 
demons — and  if,  under  that  conviction,  even  he,  though  a 
slave  to  every  disordered  impulse,  becomes  comparatively 
docile,  how  much  more  under  the  same  influence  will  a 
child  become  so.  Do  but  gain  a  boy's  trust ;  convince  him 

*  See  Dr.  Conolly  on  Lunatic  Asylums. 


86  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

by  your  behaviour  that  you  have  his  happiness  at  heart; 
let  him  discover  that  you  are  the  wiser  of  the  two ;  let  him 
experience  the  benefits  of  following  your  advice  and  the  evils 
that  arise  from  disregarding  it ;  and  fear  not  you  will  readily 
enough  guide  him. 

If  we  wish  a  boy  to  become  a  good  mechanic  we  ensure 
his  expertness  by  an  early  apprenticeship.  The  young 
musician,  that  is  to  be,  passes  several  hours  a  day  at  his 
instrument.  Initiatory  courses  of  outline  drawing  and 
shading  are  gone  through  by  the  intended  artist.  For  the 
future  accountant,  a  thorough  drilling  in  arithmetic  is  pre- 
scribed. The  reflective  powers  are  sought  to  be  developed 
by  the  study  of  mathematics.  Thus,  all  training  is  founded 
on  the  principle  that  culture  must  precede  proficiency.  In 
such  proverbs  as — "  Habit  is  second  nature,"  and  "  Practice 
makes  perfect,"  men  have  expressed  those  net  products  of 
universal  observation  on  which  every  educational  system  is 
ostensibly  based. 

"What  now  is  the  most  important  attribute  of  man  as  a 
moral  being?  May  we  not  answer — the  faculty  of  self- 
control  ?  This  it  is  which  forms  a  chief  distinction  between 
the  human  being  and  the  brute.  It  is  in  virtue  of  this  that 
man  is  defined  as  a  creature  "  looking  before  and  after."  It 
is  in  their  larger  endowment  of  this  that  the  civilized  races 
are  superior  to  the  savage.  In  supremacy  of  this  consists 
one  of  the  perfections  of  the  ideal  man.  Not  to  be  impulsive 
— not  to  be  spurred  hither  and  thither  by  each  desire  which 
in  turn  comes  uppermost;  but  to  be  self -restrained,  self- 
balanced,  governed  by  the  joint  decision  of  the  feelings  in 
council  assembled,  before  whom  every  action  shall  have  been 
fully  debated  and  calmly  determined — this  it  is  which  moral 
education  strives  to  produce. 

But  the  power  of  self-government,  like  all  other  powers, 
can  be  developed  only  by  exercise.  Whoso  is  to  rule  over 
his  passions  in  maturity,  must  be  practised  in  ruling  over 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  CHILDREN.  87 

his  passions  during  youth.  Observe,  then,  the  absurdity  of 
the  coercive  system.  Instead  of  habituating  a  boy  to  be  a 
law  to  himself,  as  he  is  required  in  after-life  to  be,  it 
administers  the  law  for  him.  Instead  of  preparing  him 
against  the  day  when  he  shall  leave  the  paternal  roof,  by 
inducing  him  to  fix  the  boundaries  of  his  actions  and  volun- 
tarily confine  himself  within  them,  it  marks  out  these 
boundaries  for  him,  and  says — "  cross  them  at  your  peril." 
Here  we  have  a  being  who,  in  a  few  years,  is  to  become  his 
own  master,  and,  by  way  of  fitting  him  for  such  a  condition, 
he  is  allowed  to  be  his  own  master  as  little  as  possible. 
While  in  every  other  particular  it  is  thought  desirable  that 
what  the  man  will  have  to  do,  the  child  should  be  well 
drilled  in  doing,  in  this  most  important  of  all  particulars  it 
is  thought  that  the  less  practice  he  has  the  better.  No 
wonder  that  those  who  have  been  brought  up  under  the 
severest  discipline  so  frequently  turn  out  the  wildest  of  the 
wild. 

Indeed,  not  only  does  the  physical-force  system  fail  to  fit 
the  youth  for  his  future  position ;  it  absolutely  tends  to  un- 
fit  him.  "Were  slavery  to  be  his  lot — if  his  after-life  had  to 
be  passed  under  the  rule  of  a  Russian  autocrat,  or  of  an 
American  cotton  planter,  no  better  method  of  training  could 
be  devised  than  one  which  accustomed  him  to  that  attitude 
of  complete  subordination  he  would  subsequently  have  to 
assume.  But  just  to  the  degree  in  which  such  treatment 
would  fit  him  for  servitude,  must  it  unfit  him  for  being  a 
free  man  among  free  men. 

But  why  is  education  needed  at  all  ?  Why  does  not  the 
child  grow  spontaneously  into  a  normal  human  being  ?  Why 
should  it  be  requisite  to  curb  this  propensity,  to  stimulate 
the  other  sentiment,  and  thus  by  artificial  means  to  shape  the 
mind  into  something  different  from  what  it  would  of  itself 
become  ?  Is  not  there  here  an  anomaly  in  nature  ?  Through- 
out the  rest  of  creation  we  find  the  seed  and  the  embryo 


88  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

attaining  to  perfect  maturity  without  external  aid.  Drop 
an  acorn  into  the  ground,  and  it  will  in  due  time  become  a 
healthy  oak  without  either  pruning  or  training.  The  insect 
passes  through  its  several  transformations  unhelped,  and 
arrives  at  its  final  form  possessed  of  every  needful  capacity 
and  instinct.  No  coercion  is  needed  to  make  the  young 
bird  or  quadruped  adopt  the  habits  proper  to  its  future  life : 
its  character  like  its  body,  spontaneously  assumes  complete 
fitness  for  the  part  it  has  to  play  in  the  world.  How 
happens  it,  then,  that  the  human  mind  alone  tends  to  develop 
itself  wrongly  ?  Must  there  not  be  some  exceptional  cause 
for  this  ?  Manifestly :  and  if  so  a  true  theory  of  education 
must  recognize  this  cause. 

It  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  the  moral  constitution  which 
fitted  man  for  his  original  predatory  state,  differs  from  the 
one  needed  to  fit  him  for  this  social  state  to  which  multipli- 
cation of  the  race  has  led.  In  a  foregoing  part  of  our  inquiry 
it  was  shown  that  adaptation  is  effecting  a  transition  from 
the  one  constitution  to  the  other.  Living  then,  as  we  do,  in 
the  midst  of  this  transition,  we  must  expect  to  find  traits  of 
nature  which  are  explicable  only  on  the  hypothesis  that 
humanity  is  at  present  partially  adapted  to  both  these  states, 
and  not  completely  to  either — has  only  in  a  degree  lost  the 
dispositions  needed  for  savage  life,  and  has  but  imperfectly 
acquired  those  needed  for  social  life.  The  anomaly  just 
specified  is  one  of  these.  Those  respects  in  which  a  child  re- 
quires restraint  are  the  respects  in*  which  he  is  taking  after 
the  aboriginal  man.  The  selfish  squabbles  of  the  nursery,  the 
persecutions  of  the  play-ground,  the  lyings  and  petty  thefts, 
the  rough  treatment  of  inferior  creatures,  the  propensity  to 
destroy — all  these  imply  that  tendency  to  pursue  gratifica- 
tion at  the  expense  of  other  beings,  which  qualified  man  for 
the  wilderness,  and  which  disqualifies  him  for  civilized  life* 

We  have  seen,  however,  that  the  instincts  of  the  savage 
must  decrease  from  inactivity,  while  the  sentiments  called 
forth  by  the  social  state  must  grow  by  exercise.  These  modi- 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  CHILDREN.  89 

fications  will  continue  until  our  desires  are  brought  into  con- 
formity with  our  circumstances.  When  that  ultimate  state 
in  which  morality  shall  have  become  organic  is  arrived  at, 
this  anomaly  in  the  development  of  the  child's  character  will 
have  disappeared.  The  young  human  being  will  no  longer 
be  an  exception  in  Nature,  but  will  spontaneously  unfold 
into  a  form  fitted  for  the  requirements  of  after-life. 

And  here  we  are  naturally  led  to  remark  once  more  the 
necessary  incongruity  between  the  perfect  law  and  the  imper- 
fect man.  "Whatsoever  of  Utopianism  there  may  seem  to  be 
in  the  foregoing  doctrines,  is  due  not  to  any  error  in  them  but 
to  faults  in  ourselves.  A  partial  impracticability  must  not 
perplex  us — must,  on  the  contrary,  be  expected.  Just  in 
proportion  to  our  distance  below  the  purely  moral  state, 
must  be  our  difficulty  in  acting  up  to  the  moral  law,  either 
in  the  treatment  of  children  or  in  anything  else. 

Meanwhile  let  it  be  remarked  that  the  main  obstacle  to  the 
right  conduct  of  education  lies  rather  in  the  parent  than  in 
the  child.  It  is  not  that  the  child  is  insensible  to  influences 
higher  than  that  of  force,  but  that  the  parent  is  not  virtuous 
enough  to  use  them.  Fathers  and  mothers  who  enlarge  on 
the  trouble  which  filial  misbehaviour  entails  upon  them, 
strangely  assume  that  all  the  blame  is  due  to  the  evil  pro- 
pensities of  their  offspring  and  none  to  their  own.  Though 
on  their  knees  they  confess  to  being  miserable  sinners,  yet  to 
hear  their  complaints  of  undutiful  sons  and  daughters  you 
might  suppose  that  they  were  themselves  immaculate.  They 
forget  that  the  faults  of  their  children  are  reproductions 
of  their  own  faults.  They  do  not  recognize  in  these  much- 
scolded,  often-beaten  little  ones  so  many  looking-glasses 
wherein  they  may  see  reflected  their  own  selfishness.  It 
would  astonish  them  to  assert  that  they  behave  as  improperly 
to  their  children  as  their  children  do  to  them.  Yet  a  little 
candid  self-analysis  would  show  them  that  half  their  com- 
mands are  issued  more  for  their  own  convenience  or  gratifica- 


90  SOCIAL  STATICS, 

tion  than  for  corrective  purposes.  Uncover  its  roots,  and  the 
theory  of  coercive  education  will  be  found  to  grow  not  out 
of  man's  love  of  his  offspring  but  out  of  his  love  of  domin- 
ion. Let  any  one  who  doubts  this  listen  to  that  common 
reprimand — "  How  dare  you  disobey  me  ? "  and  then  consider 
what  the  emphasis  means.  No  no,  moral-force  education  is 
widely  practicable  even  now,  if  parents  were  civilized  enough 
to  use  it. 

But  of  course  the  obstacle  is  in  a  measure  reciprocal. 
Even  the  best  samples  of  childhood  as  we  now  know  it  will 
be  occasionally  unmanageable  by  suasion ;  and  when  inferior 
natures  have  to  be  dealt  with,  the  difficulty  of  doing  without 
coercion  must  be  proportionably  great.  Nevertheless  pa- 
tience, self-denial,  a  sufficient  insight  into  youthful  emotions, 
and  a  due  sympathy  with  them,  added  to  a  little  ingenuity  in 
the  choice  of  means,  will  usually  accomplish  far  more  than  is 
supposed. 

[NOTE. — These  fragments  of  a  chapter  do  not  directly  touch 
the  question  of  the  Rights  of  Children.  A  revised  conception 
of  these  rights,  duly  qualified  by  recognition  of  the  claims 
of  parents,  will  be  found  in  The  Principles  of  Ethics,  Part 
IV : — Justice.] 


POLITICAL  EIGHTS. 

THERE  have  been  books  written  to  prove  that  the  mon- 
arch's will  should  be  the  subject's  absolute  law ;  and  if  instead 
of  monarch  we  read  legislature,  we  have  the  expediency-theory. 
It  merely  modifies  "  divine  right  of  kings  "  into  divine  right 
of  majorities.  It  is  despotism  democratized.  Between  that 
old  eastern  regime  under  which  the  citizen  was  the  private 
property  of  his  ruler,  having  no  rights  at  all,  and  that  final 
regime  under  which  his  rights  will  be  entire  and  inviolable, 
there  comes  this  intermediate  state  in  which  he  is  allowed  to 
possess  rights,  but  only  by  sufferance  of  parliament.  Thus 
the  expediency-philosophy  falls  naturally  into  its  place  as  a 
phenomenon  attending  our  progress  from  past  slavery  to 
future  freedom. 

The  self-importance  of  a  Malvolio  is  sufficiently  ludicrous ; 
but  we  must  go  far  beyond  it  to  parallel  the  presumption  of 
legislatures.  Some  steward  who  construed  his  stewardship 
into  proprietorship,  would  more  fitly  illustrate  it.  Were 
such  an  one  to  argue  that  the  estate  he  was  appointed  to 
manage  had  been  virtually  resigned  into  his  possession — that 
to  secure  the  advantages  of  his  administration  its  owner  had 
given  up  all  title  to  it — that  he  now  lived  on  it  only  by  his  (the 
steward's)  sufferance — and  that  he  was  in  future  to  receive 
no  emoluments  from  it,  except  at  his  (the  steward's)  good 
pleasure — then  should  we  have  an  appropriate  travesty  upon 
the  behaviour  of  governments  to  nations;  then  should  we 


92  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

have  a  doctrine  analogous  to  this  fashionable  one,  which 
teaches  how  men  on  becoming  members  of  a  community, 
give  up  their  natural  rights  for  the  sake  of  certain  social  ad- 
vantages. Disciples  of  Hobbes  and  Bentham  will  doubtless 
protest  against  such  an  interpretation  of  it.  Let  us  submit 
them  to  a  cross-examination. 

"  Your  hypothesis  that,  when  they  entered  into  the  social 
state,  men  surrendered  their  original  freedom,  implies  that 
they  entered  into  such  state  voluntarily,  does  it  not  ? " 

"It  does." 

"  Then  they  must  have  considered  the  social  state  prefer- 
able to  that  under  which  they  had  previously  lived  ? " 

"  Necessarily." 

"  Why  did  it  appear  preferable  ? " 

"  Because  it  offered  greater  security." 

"  Greater  security  for  what  ? " 

"  Greater  security  for  life,  for  property,  and  for  the  things 
that  minister  to  happiness." 

"  Exactly.  To  get  more  happiness :  that  must  have  been 
the  object.  If  they  had  expected  to  get  more  tmhappiness, 
they  would  not  have  willingly  made  the  change,  would  they  ? " 

"No." 

"  Does  not  happiness  consist  in  the  due  satisfaction  of  all 
the  desires?  in  the  due  exercise  of  all  the  faculties?' 

"  Yes." 

"  And  this  exercise  of  the  faculties  is  impossible  without 
freedom  of  action.  The  desires  cannot  be  satisfied  without 
liberty  to  pursue  and  use  the  objects  of  them." 

"  True." 

"  Now  it  is  this  freedom  to  exercise  the  faculties  within 
specific  limits,  which  we  signify  by  the  term  '  rights,'  is  it 
not?" 

"  It  is." 

"  "Well,  then,  summing  up  your  answers,  it  seems  that,  by 
your  hypothesis,  man  entered  the  social  state  voluntarily ; 
which  means  that  he  entered  it  for  the  sake  of  obtaining 


POLITICAL  RIGHTS.  93 

greater  happiness ;  which  means  that  he  entered  it  to  obtain 
fuller  exercise  of  his  faculties ;  which  means  that  he  entered 
it  to  obtain  security  for  such  exercise  ;  which  means  that  he 
entered  it  for  the  guaranteeing  of  his  '  rights.'  "  "  Where- 
fore, either  way  we  find  that  the  preservation  of  rights  was 
the  object  sought." 

"  So  it  would  seem." 

"  But  your  hypothesis  is  that  men  give  up  their  rights  on 
entering  the  social  state  ? " 

"  Yes." 

"  See  now  how  you  contradict  yourself.  You  assert  that 
on  becoming  members  of  a  society,  men  give  up  what,  by 
your  own  showing,  they  joined  it  the  better  to  obtain  !  " 

Of  the  many  political  superstitions,  none  is  so  widely  dif- 
fused as  the  notion  that  majorities  are  omnipotent.  Under 
the  impression  that  the  preservation  of  order  will  ever  require 
power  to  be  wielded  by  some  party,  the  moral  sense  of  our 
time  feels  that  such  power  cannot  rightly  be  exercised  by 
any  but  the  largest  moiety  of  society.  It  interprets  literally 
the  saying  that  "  the  voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God ; " 
and,  transferring  to  the  one  the  sacredness  attached  to  the 
other,  it  concludes  that  from  the  will  of  the  people,  that  is, 
of  the  majority,  there  can  be  no  appeal.  Yet  is  this  belief 
entirely  erroneous. 

Suppose,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that,  struck  by  some 
Malthusian  panic,  a  legislature  duly  representing  public 
opinion  were  to  enact  that  all  children  born  during  the  next 
ten  years  should  be  drowned.  Does  any  one  think  such  an 
enactment  would  be  warrantable  ?  If  not,  there  is  evidently 
a  limit  to  the  power  of  a  majority.  Suppose,  again,  that  of 
two  races  living  together — Celts  and  Saxons,  for  example — 
the  most  numerous  determined  to  make  the  others  their 
slaves.  Would  the  authority  of  the  greater  number  be  in 
such  case  valid  ?  Tf  not,  there  is  something  to  which  its 
authority  must  be  subordinate.  Suppose,  once  more,  that 
7 


94  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

all  men  having  incomes  under  £50  a  year,  were  to  resolve 
upon  reducing  every  income  above  that  amount  to  their  own 
standard,  and  appropriating  the  excess  for  public  purposes. 
Could  their  resolution  be  justified  ?  If  not  it  must  be  a  third 
time  confessed  that  there  is  a  law  to  which  the  popular  voice 
must  defer.  What,  then,  is  that  law,  if  not  the  law  of  pure 
equity — the  law  of  equal  freedom  ?  These  restraints  which 
all  would  put  to  the  will  of  the  majority,  are  the  restraints 
set  up  by  that  law.  We  deny  the  right  of  a  majority  to 
murder,  to  enslave,  or  to  rob,  simply  because  murder,  en- 
slaving, and  robbery  are  violations  of  that  law — violations 
too  gross  to  be  overlooked.  But  if  great  violations  of  it  are 
,  wrong,  so  also  are  smaller  ones.  If  the  will  of  the  many 
cannot  supersede  the  first  principle  of  morality  in  these  cases, 
neither  can  it  in  any. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  STATE. 

IT  is  a  tolerably  well-ascertained  fact  that  men  are  still  self- 
ish. And  that  beings  answering  to  this  epithet  will  employ 
the  power  placed  in  their  hands  for  their  own  advantage  is 
self-evident.  Directly  or  indirectly,  either  by  hook  or  by 
crook,  if  not  openly  then  in  secret,  their  private  ends  will  be 
served.  Granting  the  proposition  that  men  are  selfish,  we 
cannot  avoid  the  corollary  that  those  who  possess  authority 
will,  if  permitted,  use  it  for  selfish  purposes. 

Should  any  one  need  facts  in  proof  of  this,  he  may  find 
them  at  every  page  in  the  nearest  volume  of  history.  Under 
the  head  "  Monarchy,"  he  will  read  of  insatiable  cravings  after 
more  territory  ;  of  confiscations  of  the  subjects'  property  ;  of 
justice  sold  to  the  highest  bidder ;  of  continued  debasements 
of  coinage ;  and  of  a  greediness  which  could  even  descend  to 
share  the  gains  of  prostitutes. 

He  will  find  Feudalism  exemplifying  the  same  spirit  by 
the  cruelties  inflicted  upon  serfs  ;  by  the  right  of  private  war ; 
by  the  predatory  incursions  of  borderers ;  by  robberies  prac- 
tised on  Jews ;  and  by  the  extortionate  tribute  wrung  from 
burghers — all  of  them  illustrations  of  that  motto,  so  charac- 
teristic of  the  system — "  Thou  shalt  want  ere  I  want." 

Does  he  seek  like  evidence  in  the  conduct  of  later  aristoc- 
racies ?  He  may  discover  it  in  every  state  in  Europe :  in 
Spain,  where  the  lands  of  nobles  and  clergy  were  long  ex- 
empted from  direct  taxation  ;  in  Hungary,  where,  until  lately, 
men  of  rank  were  free  of  all  turnpikes,  and  only  the  mercan- 


96  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

tile  and  working  classes  paid ;  in  France,  before  the  first 
revolution,  where  the  tiers-etal  had  to  bear  all  the  State  bur- 
dens ;  in  Scotland  where,  less  than  two  centuries  ago  it  was 
the  custom  of  lairds  to  kidnap  the  common  people,  and  export 
them  as  slaves ;  in  Ireland  where,  at  the  rebellion,  a  band  of 
usurping  landowners  hunted  and  shot  the  Catholics  as  they 
would  game,  for  daring  to  claim  their  own. 

If  more  proofs  are  wanted  that  power  will  be  made  to 
serve  the  purposes  of  its  possessors,  English  legislation  can 
furnish  many  such.  Take,  for  example,  the  significantly 
named  "  Black  Act "  (9th  of  George  I.),  which  declares  that 
any  one  disguised  and  in  possession  of  an  offensive  weapon 
"  appearing  in  any  warren,  or  place  where  hares  or  conies 
have  been,  or  shall  be  usually  kept,  and  being  thereof  duly 
convicted,  shall  be  adjudged  guilty  of  felony,  and  shall  suffer 
death,  as  in  cases  of  felony,  without  benefit  of.  clergy."  In- 
stance again  the  Inclosure  Laws,  by  which  commons  were 
divided  among  the  neighbouring  landowners  in  the  ratios  of 
their  holdings,  regardless  of  the  claims  of  the  poor  cottagers. 
Notice  also  the  manoeuvre  by  which  the  land-tax  has  been  kept 
stationary,  or  has  even  decreased,  while  other  taxes  have  so 
enormously  increased.  Add  to  these  the  private  monopolies 
(obtained  from  the  King  for  "  a  consideration  "),  the  perver- 
sion of  the  funds  of  public  schools,  the  manufacture  of  places 
and  pensions. 

Nor  is  the  disposition  to  use  power  for  private  ends  less 
manifest  in  our  own  day.  It  shows  itself  in  the  assertion  that 
an  electoral  system  should  give  a  preponderance  to  the  landed 
interest.  We  see  it  in  the  legislation  which  relieves  farmers 
from  sundry  assessed  taxes,  that  they  may  be  enabled  to  pay 
more  rent.  It  is  palpably  indicated  in  the  Game  Laws.  The 
conduct  of  the  squire,  who  gets  his  mansion  rated  at  one-third 
of  its  value,  bears  witness  to  it.  It  appears  in  the  law  enabling 
the  landlord  to  anticipate  other  creditors,  and  to  obtain  his 
rent  by  immediate  seizure  of  his  tenant's  property.  We  are 
reminded  of  it  by  the  often-mentioned  legacy  and  probate 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OP  THE  STATE.  97 

duties.  It  is  implied  by  the  fact  that  while  no  one  dreams  of 
compensating  the  discharged  workman,  gentlemen  sinecurists 
must  have  their  "  vested  interests  "  bought  up  if  their  offices 
are  abolished.  In  the  tracts  of  the  Anti-Corn  Law  League  it 
receives  abundant  illustration.  It  is  seen  in  the  votes  of  the 
hundred  and  fifty  military  and  naval  members  of  Parliament. 
And  lastly,  we  find  this  self-seeking  of  those  in  authority 
creeps  out  even  in  the  doings  of  the  "Right  Reverend 
Fathers  in  God"  forming  the  Ecclesiastical  Commission, 
who  have  appropriated,  for  the  embellishment  of  their  own 
palaces,  funds  entrusted  to  them  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Church. 

But  it  is  needless  to  accumulate  illustrations.  Though 
every  historian  the  world  has  seen  should  be  subpoenaed  as  a 
witness,  the  fact  could  not  be  rendered  one  whit  more  certain 
than  it  is  already.  Why  ask  whether  those  in  power  hcwe 
sought  their  own  advantage  in  preference  to  that  of  others  ? 
"With  human  nature  as  we  know  it,  they  must  have  done  so. 
It  is  this  same  tendency  in  men  to  pursue  gratification  at  the 
expense  of  their  neighbours  which  renders  government  need- 
ful. Were  we  not  selfish,  legislative  restraint  would  be  un- 
necessary. Evidently,  then,  the  very  existence  of  a  State- 
authority  proves  that  irresponsible  rulers  will  sacrifice  the 
public  good  to  their  personal  benefit :  all  solemn  promises, 
specious  professions,  and  carefully-arranged  checks  and  safe- 
guards, notwithstanding. 

It  is  a  pity  that  those  who  speak  disparagingly  of  the 
masses  have  not  wisdom  enough,  or  candour  enough,  to  make 
due  allowance  for  the  unfavourable  circumstances  in  which 
the  masses  are  placed.  Suppose  that,  after  carefully  weigh- 
ing the  evidence,  it  should  turn  out  that  the  working  men  do 
exhibit  greater  vices  than  those  more  comfortably  off ;  does 
it  therefore  follow  that  they  are  morally  wrorse?  Are  the 
additional  temptations  under  which  they  labour  to  be  left 
out  of  the  estimate?  Shall  as  much  be  expected  at  their 


93  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

hands  as  from  those  born  into  a  more  fortunate  position  ? 
Ought  the  same  demands  to  be  made  upon  the  possessors  of 
five  talents  as  upon  the  possessors  of  ten  ?  Surely  the  lot  of 
the  hard-handed  labourer  is  pitiable  enough  without  having 
harsh  judgments  passed  upon  him.  Consider  well  these  en- 
dowments of  his — these  capacities,  affections,  tastes,  and  the 
vague  yearnings  to  which  they  give  birth.  Think  of  him 
now  with  his  caged-up  desires  doomed  to  a  daily,  weekly, 
yearly  round  of  painful  toil,  with  very  little  remission  save 
for  food  and  sleep.  Observe  how  he  is  tantalized  by  the 
pleasures  he  sees  his  richer  brethren  partaking  of,  but  from 
which  he  must  be  for  ever  debarred.  Note  the  humiliation 
he  suffers  from  being  looked  down  upon  as  of  no  account 
among  men.  And  then  remember  that  he  has  nothing  to 
look  forward  to  but  a  monotonous  continuance  of  this  till 
death.  Is  this  a  salutary  state  of  things  to  live  under  ? 

It  is  very  easy  for  you,  O  respectable  citizen,  seated  in 
your  easy  chair  with  your  feet  on  the  fender,  to  hold  forth 
on  the  misconduct  of  the  people ; — very  easy  for  you  to  cen- 
Bure  their  extravagrant  and  vicious  habits; — very  easy  for 
you  to  be  a  pattern  of  frugality,  of  rectitude,  of  sobriety. 
What  else  should  you  be?  Here  are  you  surrounded  by 
comforts,  possessing  multiplied  sources  of  lawful  happiness, 
with  a  reputation  to  maintain,  an  ambition  to  fulfil,  and  the 
prospect  of  a  competency  for  your  old  age.  A  shame  indeed 
would  it  be  if  with  these  advantages  you  were  not  well  regu- 
lated in  your  behaviour.  You  have  a  cheerful  home,  are 
warmly  and  cleanly  clad,  and  fare,  if  not  sumptuously  every 
day,  at  any  rate  abundantly.  For  your  hours  of  relaxation 
there  are  amusements.  A  newspaper  arrives  regularly  to 
satisfy  your  curiosity ;  if  your  tastes  are  literary,  books  may 
be  had  in  plenty ;  and  there  is  a  piano  if  you  like  music. 
You  can  afford  to  entertain  your  friends,  and  are  entertained 
in  return.  There  are  lectures,  and  concerts,  and  exhibitions, 
accessible  if  you  incline  to  them.  You  may  have  a  holiday 
when  you  choose  to  take  one,  and  can  spare  money  for  an 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  STATE.  99 

annual  trip  to  the  sea-side.  And  enjoying  all  these  privi- 
leges you  take  credit  to  yourself  for  being  a  well-conducted 
man !  Small  praise  to  you  for  it !  If  you  do  not  contract 
dissipated  habits  where  is  the  merit  ?  you  have  few  incen- 
tives to  do  so.  It  is  no  honour  to  you  that  you  do  not  spend 
your  savings  in  sensual  gratification;  you  have  pleasures 
enough  without.  But  what  would  you  do  if  placed  in  the 
position  of  the  labourer  ?  How  would  these  virtues  of  yours 
stand  the  wear  and  tear  of  poverty?  Where  would  your 
prudence  and  self-denial  be  if  you  were  deprived  of  all  the 
hopes  that  now  stimulate  you ;  if  you  had  no  better  prospect 
than  that  of  the  Dorsetshire  farm-servant  with  his  10«.  a 
week,  or  that  of  the  perpetually-straitened  stocking-weaver, 
or  that  of  the  mill-hand  with  his  not  infrequent  suspensions 
of  work  ?  Let  us  see  you  tied  to  an  irksome  employment 
from  dawn  till  dusk ;  fed  on  meagre  food,  and  scarcely  enough 
of  that;  married  to  a  factory  girl  ignorant  of  domestic 
management;  deprived  of  the  enjoyments  which  education 
opens  up ;  with  no  place  of  recreation  but  the  pot-house ; 
and  then  let  us  see  whether  you  would  be  as  steady  as  you 
are.  Suppose  your  savings  had  to  be  made,  not,  as  now,  out 
of  surplus  income,  but  out  of  wages  already  insufficient  for 
necessaries ;  and  then  consider  whether  to  be  provident  would 
be  as  easy  as  you  at  present  find  it.  Conceive  yourself  one  of 
a  class  contemptuously  termed  "the  great  unwashed j" 
stigmatized  as  brutish,  stolid,  vicious ;  suspected  of  harbour- 
ing wicked  designs;  and  then  say  whether  the  desire  to  be 
respectable  would  be  as  practically  operative  on  you  as  now. 
Lastly,  imagine  that  seeing  your  capacities  were  but  ordinary, 
and  your  competitors  innumerable,  you  despaired  of  ever 
attaining  to  a  higher  station ;  and  then  think  whether  the 
incentives  to  perseverance  and  forethought  would  be  as 
strong  as  your  existing  ones. 

i 

After  all  it  is  a  pitiful  controversy,  this  about  the  relative 
vices  of  rich  and  poor.     Two  school-boys  taunting  each  other 


100  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

with  faults  of  which  they  were  equally  guilty,  would  best 
parody  it.  While  indignant  Radicalism  denounces  "  the  vile 
aristocrats,"  these  in  their  turn  enlarge  with  horror  on  the 
brutality  of  the  mob.  Neither  party  sees  its  own  sins. 
Neither  party  recognizes  in  the  other,  itself  in  a  different 
dress.  Neither  party  can  believe  that  it  would  do  all  the 
other  does  if  placed  in  like  circumstances.  Yet  a  cool  by- 
stander finds  nothing  to  choose  between  them — knows  that 
these  class-recriminations  are- but  the  inflammatory  symptoms 
of  a  uniformly-diffused  immorality.  Label  men  how  you 
please  with  titles  of  "  upper,"  and  "  middle,"  and  "  lower," 
you  cannot  prevent  them  being  units  of  the  same  society, 
acted  upon  by  the  same  spirit  of  the  age,  moulded  after  the 
same  type  of  character.  The  mechanical  law  that  action  and 
reaction  are  equal,  has  its  moral  analogue.  The  deed  of  one 
man  to  another  tends  ultimately  to  produce  a  like  effect  on 
both,  be  the  deed  good  or  bad.  Do  but  put  them  in  relation- 
ship, and  no  division  into  castes,  no  differences  of  wealth, 
can  prevent  men  from  assimilating.  Whoso  is  placed  among 
the  savage  will  in  process  of  time  grow  savage  too ;  let  his 
companions  be  treacherous  and  he  will  become  treacherous 
in  self-defence ;  surround  him  with  the  kind-hearted  and  he 
will  soften ;  amid  the  refined  he  will  acquire  polish ;  and 
the  same  influences  which  thus  rapidly  adapt  the  individual 
to  his  society,  ensure,  though  by  a  slower  process,  the  general 
uniformity  of  a  national  character.  This  is  no  unsupported 
theory.  Look  when  or  where  we  please,  thickly-strewn 
proofs  may  be  gathered.  The  cruelties  of  the  old  Roman 
rulers  were  fully  paralleled  by  those  over  which  the  populace 
gloated  in  their  arenas.  During  the  servile  wars  of  the 
middle  ages,  barons  tortured  rebels  and  rebels  tortured 
barons,  with  equally  diabolical  ferocity.  Those  massacres 
which  took  place  a  few  years  since  in  Galicia,  covered  with 
infamy  both  the  people  who  committed  them  and  the  govern- 
ment which  paid  for  them  at  per  head.  The  Assam  chiefs,  to 
whom  the  East  India  Company  have  allowed  compensation 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  STATE.  101 

for  abandoning  their  established  right  of  plunder,  are  neither 
better  nor  worse  than  the  mass  of  the  people,  among  whom 
joint-stock  robbing  companies  are  common.  A  similar  same- 
ness is  exhibited  in  Russia,  where  all  are  alike  swindlers, 
from  the  Prince  Marshal  who  cheats  the  troops  out  of  their 
rations,  the  officers  who  rob  the  Emperor  of  his  stores,  the 
magistrates  who  require  bribing  before  they  will  act,  the 
police  \vho  have  secret  treaties  with  the  thieves,  the  shop- 
keepers who  boast  of  their  successful  trickeries,  down  to  the 
postmasters  and  drosky -drivers  with  their  endless  imposi- 
tions. In  Ireland,  during  the  last  century,  while  the  people 
had  their  faction  fights  and  secret  revenge  societies,  duelling 
formed  the  amusement  of  the  gentry,  and  was  carried  to  such 
a  pitch  that  the  barrister  was  bound  to  give  satisfaction  to 
the  witness  he  had  bullied,  or  to  the  client  who  was  dissatis- 
fied with  him.*  And  let  us  not  forget  how  completely  this 
unity  of  character  is  exhibited  by  the  Irish  of  to-day,  among 
whom  Orangemen  and  Catholics  display  the  same  truculent 
bigotry  ;  among  whom  magistrates  and  people  join  in  party 
riots ;  and  among  whom  the  improvidence  of  the  peasantry 
is  to  be  paralleled  only  by  that  of  the  landlords.  Our  own 
history  furnishes  like  illustrations  in  plenty.  The  time 
when  England  swarmed  with  highwaymen  and  outlaws,  and 
when  the  populace  had  that  sneaking  kindness  for  a  bold 
robber,  still  shown  in  some  parts  of  the  Continent,  was  the 
time  when  kings  also  played  the  bandit ;  when  they  cheated 
their  creditors  by  debasing  the  coinage  ;  when  they  impressed 
labourers  to  build  their  palaces  (Windsor  Castle,  for  instance), 
obliging  them  under  pain  of  imprisonment  to  take  the  wages 
offered ;  and  when  they  seized  and  sold  men's  goods,  paying 
the  owners  less  than  a  third  of  what  the  goods  realized. 
During  the  age  of  religious  persecution,  Papists  martyred 
Protestants  and  Protestants  martyred  Papists,  with  equal 

*  "It  is  time,"  said  a  veteran  of  this  school,  "to  retire  from  the  bar, 
since  this  new-fangled  special  pleading  has  superseded  the  use  of  gun- 
powder."— Sketches  of  Ireland  Sixty  Years  Ago. 


102  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

cruelty ;  and  Cavaliers  and  Boundheads  treated  each  other 
with  the  same  rancour.  In  the  present  day  dishonesty  shows 
itself  not  less  in  the  falsification  of  dockyard  accounts,  or  the 
"  cooking "  of  railway-reports,  than  in  burglary  or  sheep- 
stealing;  while  those  who  see  heartlessness  in  the  dealings 
of  slop-tailors  and  their  sweaters,  may  also  find  it  in  the 
conduct  of  rich  landlords  who  get  double  rent  from  poor 
allotment  holders,*  and  in  that  of  responsible  ladies  who 
underpay  half-starved  seamstresses. f  Changes  in  tastes  and 
amusements  are  similarly  common  to  all.  The  contrast 
between  the  Squire  "Westerns  and  their  descendants  has  its 
analogy  among  the  people.  As  in  Spain  a  bull-fight  is  still 
the  favourite  pastime  of  both  the  Queen  and  her  subjects,  so 
in  England  fifty  years  ago,  the  cock-pit  and  the  prize-ring 
were  patronized  alike  by  peer  and  pauper ;  and  a  reference 
to  the  sporting  papers  will  show  that  the  lingering  instincts 
of  the  savage  are  at  this  moment  exhibited  by  about  an  equal 
percentage  of  all  classes. 

If  by  ignorance  is  meant  want  of  information  on  matters 

*  "  Allotments  are  generally  given  on  poor  and  useless  pieces  of  land,  but 
the  thorough  cultivation  they  receive  soon  raises  them  to  a  high  pitch  of 
fertility.  The  more  fertile  they  become  the  more  the  rent  of  each  portion 
is  increased,  and  we  were  informed  that  there  are  at  present  allotments  on 
the  Duke's  property  which,  under  the  influence  of  the  same  competition 
which  exists  with  reference  to  farms,  bring  his  Grace  a  rent  of  21.,  SI.,  and 
even  4Z.  an  acre." — The  Times  Agricultural  Commissioner  on  the  Blenheim 
Estates. 

f  See  letters  on  "  Labour  and  the  Poor."  An  Officer's  widow  says  : — 
"  Generally,  the  ladies  are  much  harder  as  to  their  terms  than  the  trades- 
people ;  oh,  yes,  the  tradespeople  usually  show  more  lenity  towards  the  needle- 
women than  the  ladies.  I  know  the  mistress  of  an  institution  who  refused 
some  chemises  of  a  lady  who  wanted  to  have  them  made  at  9d.  She  said 
she  would  not  impose  upon  the  poor  workpeople  so  much  as  to  get  them 
made  at  that  price." — Morning  Chronicle,  November  16,  1849.  A  vendor 
of  groundsel  and  turfs  for  singing  birds  says : — "  The  ladies  are  very  hard 
with  a  body.  They  tries  to  beat  me  down,  and  particular  in  the  matter  of 
turfs.  They  tell  me  they  can  buy  half-a-dozen  for  Id.,  so  I'm  obligated  to 
let  'em  have  three  or  four." — Morning  Chronicle,  November  20,  1849.  • 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  STATE.  103 

which,  for  the  due  performance  of  his  function,  the  citizen 
should  understand  (and  no  other  definition  is  to  the  point), 
then  it  is  a  great  error  to  suppose  that  ignorance  is  peculiar 
to  the  unenfranchised.  "Were  there  no  other  illustrations, 
sufficient  proof  that  this  ignorance  is  shared  by  those  on  the 
register,  might  be  gathered  from  their  conduct  at  elections. 
Much  might  be  inferred  from  the  tuft-hunting  spirit  exhibited 
in  the  choice  of  aristocratic  representatives.  Some  doubts 
might  be  cast  on  the  penetration  of  men  who,  while  they 
complain  of  the  pressure  of  taxation,  send  to  parliament  hordes 
of  military  and  naval  officers,  who  have  an  interest  in  making 
that  taxation  still  greater.  Or  the  pretensions  of  the  present 
holders  of  political  power  to  superior  knowledge,  might  be 
tested  by  quotations  from  the  debates  of  a  farmers'  market- 
ordinary,  and  from  those  of  the  assembly  into  which  electoral 
wisdom  is  distilled.  But  without  dilating  upon  these  general 
considerations,  let  us  examine  a  few  of  the  opinions  enter- 
tained by  the  mercantile  classes  upon  State-questions,  and  see 
how  far  these  opinions  entitle  them  to  a  reputation  for  en- 
lightenment. 

"  Money  is  wealth,"  was  the  dogma  universally  held  by 
legislators  and  economists  before  the  days  of  Adam  Smith ; 
and  in  conformity  with  it  Acts  of  Parliament  were,  by  general 
consent,  framed  to  attract  and  retain  in  the  country  as  much 
coin  as  possible.  Mr.  Mill,  in  the  introduction  to  his  Prin- 
ciples of  Political  Economy,  assumes  that  the  belief  is  now 
extinct.  It  may  be  so  among  philosophers,  but  it  is  still 
prevalent  in  the  trading  world.  We  continue  to  hear  deeds 
praised  as  tending  to  "  circulate  money ; "  and,  on  analyzing 
the  alarm  periodically  raised  that  "  the  money  is  going  out  of 
the  country,"  we  find  such  an  occurrence  regarded  as  a  dis- 
aster in  itself,  and  not  simply  as  indicating  that  the  country 
is  poor  in  consumable  commodities.  Is  there  not  occasion 
for  a  little  "  enlightenment "  here  ? 

Again,  no  small  number  of  respectable  people  on  hearing 
of  a  fire,  or  the  mad  extravagance  of  a  spendthrift,  console 


104  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

themselves  with  the  reflection  that  such  things  are  "  good  for 
trade."  Dangerous  voters  these,  if  sound  political  knowledge 
is  a  needful  qualification. 

Even  a  professed  political  economist — Doctor  Chalmers — 
maintains  that  the  revenues  of  landowners  form  no  deduction 
from  the  means  of  society,  seeing  that  the  expenditure  of  such 
revenues  consists  "  in  a  transference  to  the  industrious  of  sus- 
tenance and  support  for  their  services  : "  which  proposition 
amounts  to  this — that  it  matters  not  in  the  end  whether  A 
and  his  servants  B,  C,  and  D,  live  on  the  produce  of  their 
own  industry  or  on  the  produce  of  other  men's  industry  !  * 

There  still  survives  alike  amongst  rich  arid  poor  the  belief 
that  the  speculations  of  corn-dealers  are  injurious  to  the 
public.  Their  anger  blinds  them  to  the  fact  that  were  not 
the  price  raised  immediately  after  a  deficient  harvest,  by  the 
purchases  of  these  large  factors,  there  would  be  nothing  to 
prevent  the  people  from  consuming  food  at  their  ordinary 
rate ;  which  would  end  in  the  inadequate  supply  being  eaten 
up  long  before  the  ripening  of  the  next  crop.  They  do  not 
perceive  that  this  mercantile  operation  is  analogous  in  its 
effect  to  putting  the  crew  of  a  vessel  on  diminished  rations 
when  the  stock  of  provisions  is  found  insufficient  to  last  out 
the  voyage.  A  somewhat  serious  error  this,  for  electors  to 
labour  under. 

What  crude  theories  prevail  also  respecting  the  power  of 
a  legislature  to  encourage  different  branches  of  industry — 
"agricultural  interests"  and  other  "interests."  It  is  not 
farmers  only  who  labour  under  the  mistake  that  their  occupa- 
tion can  be  made  permanently  more  prosperous  than  the  rest 

*  No  doubt  the  belief  which  Dr.  Chalmers  combats,  viz.,  that  the  land- 
lord's revenue  is  wholly  consumed  by  him,  is  an  erroneous  one ;  for,  as  he 
points  out,  the  greater  portion  of  it  goes  to  maintain  those  who  directly  or 
indirectly  minister  to  the  landlord's  wants.  But  Dr.  Chalmers  overlooks  the 
fact  that  did  the  landlord  not  exist,  the  services  which  such  now  render  to 
him  in  return  for  "  sustenance  and  support,"  would  be  rendered,  in  some 
other  shape,  to  those  producers  from  whom  the  landlord's  revenue  origi- 
nally came. 


THE  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE  STATE.  105 

by  act  of  parliament :  educated  towns-people,  too,  participate 
in  the  delusion  ;  quite  forgetting  that  the  greater  profitable- 
ness artificially  given  to  any  particular  trade,  inevitably  draws 
into  that  trade  such  an  increased  number  of  competitors  as 
quickly  reduces  its  proffered  advantages  to  the  general  level, 
and  even  for  a  time  below  that  level.  Is  not  the  educator 
wanted  behind  the  counter  and  on  the  farm,  as  well  as  in  the 
workshop  ? 

A  democracy,  properly  so  called,  is  a  political  organization 
modelled  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  equal  freedom.  And 
if  so,  those  cannot  be  called  democracies  under  which,  as 
under  the  Greek  and  Roman  governments,  from  four-fifths 
to  eleven-twelfths  of  the  people  were  slaves.  Neither  can 
those  be  called  democracies  which,  like  the  constitutions  of 
mediaeval  Italy,  conferred  power  on  the  burghers  and  nobles 
only.  Nor  can  those  even  be  called  democracies  which,  like 
the  Swiss  states,  have  always  treated  a  certain  unincorporated 
class  as  political  outlaws.  Enlarged  aristocracies  these  should 
be  termed ;  not  democracies. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  civilization,  before  the  process  of 
adaptation  has  yet  produced  much  effect,  the  struggle  for 
political  equality  does  not  exist.  There  were  no  agitations 
for  representative  government  among  the  Egyptians,  or  the 
Persians,  or  the  Assyrians :  with  them  all  disputes  were  as  to 
who  should  be  despot.  By  the  Hindoos  a  similar  state  of 
things  is  exhibited  to  the  present  hour.  The  like  mental 
condition  was  shown  during  the  earlier  stages  of  our  own 
progress.  In  the  middle  ages  fealty  to  a  feudal  lord  was 
accounted  a  duty,  and  the  assertion  of  personal  freedom  a 
crime.  Rights  of  man  were  not  then  dreamed  of.  Revolu- 

O 

tions  were  nothing  but  dynastic  quarrels  ;  not  what  they  have 
been  in  later  times — attempts  to  make  government  more 
popular.  And  if,  after  glancing  at  the  changes  which  have 
taken  place  between  the  far  past  and  the  present,  we  reflect 
upon  the  character  of  modern  ideas  and  agitations — on  dec- 


106  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

larations  of  rights,  liberty  of  the  press,  slave-emancipation, 
removal  of  religious  disabilities,  Reform  Bills,  Chartism,  &c., 
and  consider  how  through  all  of  them  there  runs  a  kindred 
spirit,  and  how  this  spirit  is  manifesting  itself  with  constant- 
ly-increasing intensity  and  universality,  we  shall  see  that  these 
facts  imply  some  moral  change ;  and  explicable  as  they  are 
by  the  growth  of  this  compound  faculty  responding  to  the 
law  of  equal  freedom,  it  is  reasonable  to  consider  them  as 
showing  the  mode  in  which  such  faculty  seeks  to  place  social 
arrangements  in  harmony  with  that  law. 

If  a  democracy  is  produced  by  this  agency,  so  also  is  it 
rendered  practicable  by  it.  The  popular  form  of  govern- 
ment as  contrasted  with  the  monarchical,  is  professedly  one 
which  places  less  restraint  upon  the  individual.  In  speaking 
of  it  we  use  such  terms  as  free  institutions,  *^Z/*-government, 
civil  liberty,  all  implying  this.  But  the  diminution  of  ex- 
ternal restraint  can  take  place  only  at  the  same  rate  as  the 
increase  of  internal  restraint.  Conduct  has  to  be  ruled  either 
from  without  or  from  within.  If  the  rule  from  within  is 
not  efficient,  there  must  exist  a  supplementary  rule  from 
without.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  all  men  are  properly  ruled 
from  within,  government  becomes  needless,  and  all  men  are 
perfectly  free.  Now  the  chief  faculty  of  self-rule  being  the 
moral  sense,  the  degree  of  freedom  in  their  institutions  which 
any  given  people  can  bear,  will  be  proportionate  to  the  dif- 
fusion of  this  moral  sense  among  them.  And  only  when  its 
influence  greatly  predominates  can  so  large  an  instalment  of 
freedom  as  a  democracy  implies  become  possible. 

Lastly,  the  supremacy  of  this  same  faculty  affords  the 
only  guarantee  for  the  stability  of  a  democracy.  On  the 
part  of  the  ruled  it  gives  rise  to  what  we  call  a  jealousy  of 
their  liberties — a  watchful  determination  to  resist  anything 
like  encroachment  upon  their  rights;  while  it  generates 
among  the  rulers  such  respect  for  these  rights  as  checks  any 
desire  they  may  have  to  aggress.  Conversely,  let  the  ruled  be 
deficient  in  the  instinct  of  freedom,  and  they  will  be  indiffer- 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  STATE.  107 

ent  to  the  gradual  usurpation  of  their  privileges  BO  long  as 
it  entails  no  immediate  inconvenience  upon  them ;  and  the 
rulers,  in  such  case,  being  deficient  in  sympathetic  regard  for 
these  privileges,  will  be,  to  a  like  extent,  unscrupulous  in 
usurping.  Let  us  observe,  in  detail,  the  different  modes  in 
which  men  thus  contra-distinguished  comport  themselves  un- 
der a  representative  form  of  government.  Among  a  people 
not  yet  fitted  for  such  a  form,  citizens,  lacking  the  impulse 
to  claim  equal  powers,  become  careless  in  the  exercise  of 
their  franchise,  and  even  pride  themselves  on  not  interfering 
in  public  affairs.*  Provided  their  liberties  are  but  indirectly 
affected,  they  will  watch  the  passing  of  the  most  insidious 
measures  with  vacant  unconcern.  It  is  only  barefaced  aggres- 
sions that  they  can  perceive  to  be  aggressions  at  all.  Placing, 
as  they  do,  but  little  value  on  their  privileges,  they  are  readily 
bribed.  When  threatened,  instead  of  assuming  that  attitude 
of  dogged  resistance  which  the  instinct  of  freedom  dictates, 
they  truckle.  If  tricked  out  of  a  right  of  citizenship,  they 
are  quite  indifferent  about  getting  it  again ;  and,  indeed, 
when  the  exercise  of  it  conflicts  with  any  immediate  interest, 
are  glad  to  give  it  up, — will  even  petition,  as  in  times  past 
did  many  of  the  corporate  towns,  both  in  England  and  Spain, 
that  they  may  be  excused  from  electing  representatives. 
Meanwhile,  in  accordance  with  that  law  of  social  homo- 
geneity lately  dwelt  upon,  those  in  authority  are  in  a  like 
ratio  ready  to  encroach.  They  intimidate,  they  bribe,  they 
plot ;  and  by  degrees  establish  a  comparatively  coercive  gov- 
ernment. On  the  other  hand,  among  a  people  sufficiently 
endowed  with  the  faculty  responding  to  the  law  of  equal 
freedom,  no  such  retrograde  process  is  possible.  The  man 
of  genuinely  democratic  feeling  loves  liberty  as  a  miser  loves 
gold,  for  its  own  sake  and  quite  irrespective  of  its  apparent 
advantages.  What  he  thus  highly  values  he  sleeplessly 

*  Instance  the  behaviour  of  the  Prussian  electors  since  the  late  revo- 
lution. 


108  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

watches;  and  lie  opposes  aggression  the  moment  it  com- 
mences.  Should  any  assume  undue  prerogatives,  he  straight- 
way steps  up  to  them  and  demands  their  authority  for  so 
doing.  Transactions  that  seem  in  the  remotest  degree  under- 
hand awaken  his  suspicions,  which  are  not  to  be  laid  so  long  as 
anything  remains  unexplained.  If  in  any  proposed  arrange- 
ment there  be  a  latent  danger  to  the  liberties  of  himself  and 
others,  he  instantly  discovers  it  and  refuses  his  consent.  He 
is  alarmed  by  such  a  proposal  as  the  disfranchisement  of  a 
constituency  by  the  legislature ;  for  it  at  once  occurs  to  him 
that  the  measure  thus  levelled  against  one  may  be  levelled 
against  many.  To  call  that  responsible  government  under 
which  a  cabinet-minister  can  entangle  the  nation  in  a  quarrel 
about  some  paltry  territory  before  they  know  anything  of  it, 
he  sees  to  be  absurd.  It  needs  no  chain  of  reasoning  to  show 
him  that  the  assumption,  by  a  delegated  assembly,  of  the 
power  to  lengthen  its  own  existence  from  three  years  to 
seven,  is  an  infraction  of  the  representative  principle ;  and 
no  plausible  professions  of  honourable  intentions  can  check 
his  opposition  to  the  setting  up  of  so  dangerous  a  precedent. 
Still  more  excited  is  he  when  applied  to  for  grants  of  public 
money,  with  the  understanding  that  on  a  future  occasion  he 
shall  be  told  how  they  have  been  spent.  Flimsy  excuses 
about  "  exigencies  of  the  State,"  and  the  like,  cannot  entrap 
him  into  so  glaring  an  act  of  self -stultification.  Thus  is  he 
ever  on  the  watch  to  stop  encroachment.  And  when  a  com- 
munity consists  of  men  animated  by  the  spirit  thus  exempli- 
fied, the  continuance  of  liberal  institutions  is  certain. 


THE  DUTY  OF  THE  STATE. 

OUK  system  of  jurisprudence  takes  a  very  one-sided  view 
of  the  reciprocal  claims  of  State  and  subject.  It  is  stringent 
enough  in  enforcing  the  claim  of  the  State  against  the  sub- 
ject ;  but  as  to  the  correlative  claim  of  the  subject  against  the 
State  it  is  comparatively  careless.  That  it  recognizes  the 
title  of  the  tax-payer  to  protection  is  true ;  but  it  is  also  true 
that  it  does  this  but  partially.  From  certain  infringements 
of  rights,  classed  as  criminal,  it  is  ready  to  defend  every  com- 
plainant ;  but  against  others,  not  so  classed,  it  leaves  every  one 
to  defend  himself.  The  most  trifling  injury,  if  inflicted  in  a 
specified  manner,  is  cognizable  by  the  magistrate,  and  redress 
may  be  obtained  for  nothing ;  but  if  otherwise  inflicted,  the 
injury,  no  matter  how  serious,  must  be  passively  borne,  unless 
the  sufferer  has  plenty  of  money  and  a  sufficiency  of  daring. 
Let  a  man  have  his  hat  knocked  over  his  eyes,  and  the  law 
will  zealously  espouse  his  cause — will  mulct  his  assailant  in  a 
fine  and  costs,  and  will  do  this  without  charge.  But  if,  in- 
stead of  having  been  bonneted  he  has  been  wrongfully  im- 
prisoned, he  is  politely  referred  to  a  solicitor,  with  the  in- 
formation that  the  offence  committed  against  him  is  action- 
able :  which  means,  that  if  rich  he  may  play  double  or  quits 
with  Fate ;  and  that  if  poor  he  must  go  without  even  this 
chance  of  compensation.  Against  picking  of  pockets,  as  ordi- 
narily practised,  the  ruling  power  grants  its  lieges  gratuitous 
protection;  but  pockets  may  be  picked  in  various  indirect 
ways,  and  .it  will  idly  look  on  unless  costly  means  are 


110  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

taken  to  interest  it.  It  will  rush  to  the  defence  of  one  who 
has  been  deprived  of  a  few  turnips  by  a  half-starved  tramp ; 
but  as  to  the  estate  on  which  these  turnips  grew,  that  may  be 
stolen  without  risk,  so  long  as  the  despoiled  owner  is  left 
friendless  and  penniless.*  Some  complaints  need  only  to  be 
whispered,  and  the  State  forthwith  plays  the  parts  of  con- 
stable, lawyer,  judge,  and  gaoler;  while  to  others  it  turns  a 
deaf  ear  unless  they  are  made  through  its  bribed  hangers-on. 
Now  it  is  the  injured  man's  champion ;  and  now  it  throws 
down  its  weapons  and  seats  itself  as  umpire,  while  oppressor 
and  oppressed  run  a  tilt  at  each  other. 

That  men  should  sit  down  as  apathetically  as  they  do 
under  the  present  corrupt  administration  of  justice,  is  not  a 
little  remarkable.  That  we,  with  all  our  jealousy  of  abuses, 
with  all  our  opportunities  of  canvassing,  blaming,  and  amend- 
ing the  acts  of  the  legislature,  with  all  our  readiness  to  organ- 
ize and  agitate,  with  the  Anti-Corn-Law,  Slavery- Abolition, 
and  Catholic-Emancipation  victories  fresh  in  remembrance — 
that  we,  the  independent,  self-ruling  English,  should  daily 
behold  the  abominations  of  our  judicial  system,  and  yet  do 
nothing  to  rectify  them,  is  really  quite  incomprehensible.  It 
is  not  as  though  the  facts  were  disputed ;  all  men  are  agreed 
upon  them.  The  dangers  of  law  are  proverbial.  The  names 
of  its  officers  are  used  as  synonyms  for  trickery  and  greedi- 
ness. The  decisions  of  its  courts  are  typical  of  chance.  In 
all  companies  you  hear  but  one  opinion;  and  each  person 
confirms  it  by  a  fresh  illustration.  Now  you  are  informed  of 
£300  having  been  expended  in  the  recovery  of  forty 
shillings'  worth  of  property ;  and  again  of  a  cause  that  was 
lost  because  an  affirmation  could  not  be  received  in  place  of 
an  oath.  A  right-hand  neighbour  can  tell  you  of  a  judge 

*  It  is  true  that  a  plaintiff  who.  can  swear  that  he  is  not  worth  £5,  may 
sue  in  forma,  pauperis.  But  this  privilege  is  almost  a  dead  letter.  Actions 
so  instituted  are  usually  found  to  fail,  because  those  who  conduct  them, 
having  to  plead  gratuitously,  plead  carelessly. 


THE  DUTY"  OF  THE  STATE. 

who  allowed  an  indictment  to  be  objected  to,  on  the  plea 
that  the  words,  "  in  the  year  of  our  Lord, "  were  not  inserted 
before  the  date ;  and  another  to  your  left  narrates  how  a  thief 
lately  tried  for  stealing  a  guinea-pig  was  acquitted,  because  a 
guinea-pig  was  shown  to  be  a  kind  of  rat,  and  a  rat  could  not 
be  property.  At  one  moment  the  story  is  of  a  poor  man 
whose  rich  enemy  has  deliberately  ruined  him  by  tempting 
him  into  litigation  ;  and  at  the  next  it  is  of  a  child  who  has 
been  kept  in  prison  for  six  weeks,  in  default  of  sureties  for  her 
appearance  as  witness  against  one  who  had  assaulted  her.* 
This  gentleman  has  been  cheated  out  of  half  his  property, 
but  dared  not  attempt  to  recover  it  for  fear  of  losing  more ; 
while  his  less  prudent  companion  can  parallel  the  experience 
of  him  who  said  that  he  had  only  twice  been  on  the  verge  of 
ruin — once  when  he  had  lost  a  law-suit,  and  once  when  he 
had  gained  one.  On  all  sides  you  are  told  of  trickery  and 
oppression,  and  revenge,  committed  in  the  name  of  justice ; 
of  wrongs  endured  for  want  of  money  wherewith  to  purchase 
redress;  of  rights  unclaimed  because  contention  with  the 
powerful  usurper  was  useless;  of  chancery-suits  that  out- 
lasted the  lives  of  the  suitors ;  of  fortunes  swallowed  up  in 
settling  a  title ;  of  estates  lost  by  an  inf onnality.  And 
then  comes  a  catalogue  of  victims — of  those  who  had  trusted 
and  been  deceived;  gray-headed  men  whose  hardly-earned 
savings  went  to  fatten  the  attorney ;  threadbare  and  hollow- 
cheeked  insolvents  who  lost  all  in  the  attempt  to  get  their  due  ; 
some  who  had  been  reduced  to  subsist  on  the  charity  of  friends ; 
others  who  had  died  the  death  of  a  pauper ;  with  not  a  few 
whose  anxieties  had  produced  insanity,  or  who  in  their  desper- 
ation had  committed  suicide.  Yet,  while  all  echo  one  another's 
exclamations  of  disgust,  these  iniquities  continue  unchecked  ! 

There  are  not  wanting,  however,  men  who  defend  this 
state  of  things — who  actually  argue  that  government  should 

*  The  case  occurred  at  Winchester  in  July,  1849. 


112  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

perform  but  imperfectly  what  they  allow  to  be  its  special 
function.  While,  on  the  one  hand,  they  admit  that  administra- 
tion of  justice  is  the  vital  necessity  of  civilized  life,  they  main- 
tain, on  the  other,  that  justice  may  be  administered  too  well ! 

"  For,"  say  they,  "  were  law  cheap,  all  men  would  avail 
themselves  of  it.  Did  there  exist  no  difficulty  in  obtaining 
justice,  justice  would  be  demanded  in  every  case  of  violated 
rights.  Ten  times  as  many  appeals  would  be  made  to  the 
authorities  as  now.  Men  would  rush  into  legal  proceedings 
on  the  slightest  provocation;  and  litigation  would  be  so 
enormously  increased  as  to  make  the  remedy  worse  than 
the  disease." 

Such  is  the  argument :  an  argument  involving  either  a 
gross  absurdity  or  an  unwarrantable  assumption.  For  ob- 
serve, when  this  great  multiplication  of  law-proceedings 
under  a  gratuitous  administration  of  justice,  is  urged  as  a 
reason  why  things  should  remain  as  they  are,  it  is  implied 
that  the  evils  attendant  upon  the  rectification  of  all  wrongs, 
would  be  greater  than  are  the  evils  attendant  upon  sub- 
mission to  those  wrongs.  Either  the  great  majority  of  civil 
aggressions  must  be  borne  in  silence  as  now,  or  must  be 
adjudicated  upon  as  then ;  and  the  allegation  is  that  the  first 
alternative  is  preferable.  But  if  ten  thousand1  litigations 
are  worse  than  ten  thousand  injustices,  then  one  litigation  is 
worse  than  one  injustice.  "Which  means  that,  as  a  general 
principle,  an  appeal  to  the  law  for  protection  is  a  greater 
evil  than  the  trespass  complained  of.  Which  means  that  it 
would  be  better  to  have  no  administration  of  justice  at  all ! 
If,  for  the  sake  of  escaping  this  absurdity,  it  be  assumed 
that,  as  things  now  are,  all  great  wrongs  are  rectified, — that 
the  costliness  of  law  prevents  insignificant  ones  only  from 
being  brought  into  court,  and  that  consequently  the  above 
inference  cannot  be  drawn ;  then,  either  denial  is  given  to  the 
obvious  fact  that,  by  the  poverty  they  inflict,  many  of  the 
greatest  wrongs  incapacitate  their  victims  from  obtaining 
redress,  and  to  the  obvious  fact  that  the  civil  injuries  suffered 


THE  DUTY  OF  THE  STATE.  113 

by  the  masses,  though  absolutely  small  are  relatively  great; 
or  else  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  on  nine-tenths  of  the 
population  who  are  too  poor  to  institute  legal  proceedings, 
no  civil  injuries  of  moment  are  ever  inflicted ! 

Nor  is  this  all.  It  is  not  true  that  making  the  law  easy  of 
access  would  increase  litigation.  An  opposite  effect  would 
be  produced.  The  prophecy  is  vitiated  by  that  very  common 
mistake  of  calculating  the  result  of  some  new  arrangement 
on  the  assumption  that  all  other  things  would  remain  as  they 
are.  It  is  taken  for  granted  that  under  the  hypothetical 
regime  just  as  many  transgressions  would  occur  as  at  present. 
Whereas  any  candid  observer  can  see  that  most  of  the  civil 
offences  now  committed,  are  committed  in  consequence  of  the 
inefficiency  of  our  judicial  system ; 

"For  sparing  justice  feeds  iniquity." 

It  is  the  difficulty  which  he  knows  there  will  be  in  convict- 
ing him  which  tempts  the  knave  to  behave  knavishly.  Were 
not  the  law  so  expensive  and  so  uncertain,  dishonest  traders 
would  never  risk  the  many  violations  of  it  they  now  do.  The 
trespasses  of  the  wealthy  against  the  poor  would  be  rare, 
were  it  not  that  the  aggrieved  have  practically  no  remedy. 
Mark  how,  to  the  man  who  contemplates  wronging  his  fellow, 
our  legal  system  holds  out  promises  of  impunity.  Should 
his  proposed  victim  be  one  of  small  means,  there  is  the  likeli- 
hood that  he  will  not  be  able  to  carry  on  a  law-suit :  here  is 
encouragement.  Should  he  possess  enough  money,  why, 
even  then,  having,  like  most  people,  a  great  dread  of  litigation, 
he  will  probably  bear  his  loss  unresistingly  :  here  is  further 
encouragement.  Lastly,  our  plotter  remembers  that,  should 
his  victim  venture  an  action,  judicial  decisions  are  very  much 
matters  of  accident,  and  that  the  guilty  are  often  rescued  by 
clever  counsel :  here  is  still  more  encouragement.  And  so, 
all  things  considered,  he  determines  to  chance  it.  Now,  he 
would  never  decide  thus  were  legal  protection  efficient.  Were 
the  administration  of  law  prompt,  gratuitous,  and  certain, 


SOCIAL  STATICS. 

those  probabilities  and  possibilities  which  now  beckon  him 
on  to  fraudulent  acts  would  vanish.  Only  in  cases  where 
both  parties  sincerely  believed  themselves  right,  would  judi- 
cial arbitration  be  called  for ;  and  the  number  of  such  cases 
is  comparatively  small.  Litigation,  therefore,  so  far  from 
increasing  if  justice  were  made  easy  of  obtainment,  wouJd 
probably  decrease. 

But,  after  all,  it  is  not  the  setting  up  of  this  or  that  system 
of  jurisprudence  which  causes  the  intercourse  of  men  with 
one  another  to  be  equitable  or  otherwise.  The  matter  lies 
deeper.  As  with  forms  of  government,  so  with  forms  of  law, 
it  is  the  national  character  that  decides.  The  power  of  an 
apparatus  primarily  depends,  not  on  the  ingenuity  of  its 
design,  but  on  the  strength  of  its  materials.  Be  his  plan 
never  so  well  devised,  yet  if  our  engineer  has  not  considered 
whether  the  respective  parts  of  his  structure  will  bear  the 
strains  to  be  put  upon  them,  we  must  call  him  a  bungler. 
Similarly  with  the  institution-maker.  If  the  people  with 
whom  he  has  to  deal  are  not  of  the  requisite  quality,  no 
cleverness  in  his  contrivance  will  avail  anything.  Let  us 
not  forget  that  institutions  are  made  of  men,  and  that  frame 
them  together  as  we  may.  it  is  their  nature  which  must  finally 
determine  whether  the  institutions  can  stand.  These  social 
forms  which  we  regard  as  all-potent,  are  things  of  quite 
secondary  importance.  What  mattered  it  that  the  Roman 
plebeians  were  endowed  with  certain  privileges,  when  the 
patricians  prevented  them  from  exercising  those  privileges  by 
ill-treatment  carried  even  to  the  death  ?  What  mattered  it 
that  our  statute-book  contained  equitable  provisions,  and  that 
officers  were  appointed  to  enforce  them,  when  there  needed 
a  Magna  Charta  to  demand  that  justice  should  neither  be 
sold,  denied,  nor  delayed  ?  What  matters  it  even  now,  that 
all  men  are  declared  equal  before  the  law,  when  magistrates 
are  swayed  by  class-sympathies,  and  treat  a  gentleman  more 
leniently  than  an  artizan  ?  If  we  think  that  we  can  rectify 


THE  DUTY  OF  THE  STATE.  115 

the  relationships  of  men  at  will,  we  deceive  ourselves.  What 
Sir  James  Mackintosh  says  of  constitutions — that  they  are 
not  made  but  grow — applies  to  all  social  arrangements.  It  is 
not  true  that  once  upon  a  time  men  said — "  Let  there  be  law ; " 
and  there  was  law.  Administration  of  justice  was  originally 
impracticable,  Utopian,  and  has  become  more  and  more 
practicable  only  as  men  have  become  less  savage.  The  old 
system  of  settling  disputes  by  personal  contest,  and  the  new 
system  of  settling  them  by  State-arbitration,  have  coexisted 
throughout  all  ages :  the  one  little  by  little  taking  the  place 
of  the  other — outgrowing  it.  The  feudal  baron  with  castle 
and  retainers  maintained  his  own  rights,  and  would  have 
considered  himself  disgraced  by  asking  legal  aid.  Even  after 
he  had  agreed  to  regard  his  suzerain  as  umpire,  it  was  still  in 
the  lists,  and  by  the  strength  of  his  arm  arid  his  lance,  that 
he  made  good  his  cause.  And  when  we  remember  that 
equally  among  lords  and  labourers  this  practice  long  lingered, 
— that  until  lately  we  had  duels,  which  it  was  thought  dis- 
honourable for  gentlemen  to  avoid  by  applying  to  a  magis- 
trate, and  that  even  still  we  have  pugilistic  fights,  which  the 
people  try  to  hide  from  the  police ;  we  are  taught  that  it  is 
impossible  for  a  judicial  system  to  become  efficient  faster  than 
men  become  good.  It  is  only  after  public  morality  has 
gained  a  certain  ascendency,  that  the  civil  power  gets  strong 
enough  to  perform  its  simplest  functions.  Before  this  it  can- 
not even  put  down  banditti ;  border  forays  continue  in  spite 
of  it ;  and  it  is  bearded  in  its  very  strongholds,  as,  among  our- 
selves, by  the  thieves  of  "Whitefriars  but  two  centuries  ago. 
Under  early  governments  the  officers  of  law  are  less  friends 
than  enemies.  Legal  forms  are  commonly  used  for  purposes 
of  oppression.  Causes  are  decided  by  favouritism,  bribery, 
and  backstairs  intrigue.  The  judicial  apparatus  breaks  down 
under  the  work  it  has  to  do  ;  and  shows  us'  in  a  Jonathan 
"Wild,  a  Judge  Jeffries,  and  even  a  Lord  Chancellor  Bacon, 
how  inevitably  its  several  parts  are  rendered  inoperative  by  a 
generally-diffused  wickedness.  And  when  we  read  of  Orange 


116  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

magistrates  who  become  aggressors  rather  than  protectors ; 
of  policemen  who  conspire  with  one  another  to  obtain  convic- 
tions that  they  may  be  promoted ;  and  of  the  late  Palace 
Court,  whose  officers  habitually  favoured  the  plaintiff,  with 
the  view  of  inducing  men  to  enter  suits  there,  we  find  that 
now,  as  of  old,  judicial  protection  is  vitiated  by  the  depravity 
of  the  age. 

The  civil  power  no  more  does  what  to  the  careless  eye  it 
seems  to  do,  than  the  juggler  really  performs  his  apparent 
miracles.  It  is  impossible  for  man  to  create  force.  He  can 
only  alter  the  mode  of  its  manifestation,  its  direction,  its  dis- 
tribution. The  power  which  propels  his  steamboats  and  loco- 
motives is  not  of  his  making ;  it  was  all  lying  latent  in  the 
coal.  He  telegraphs  by  an  agent  set  free  during  the  oxida- 
tion of  zinc,  but  of  which  no  more  is  obtained  than  is  due  to 
the  number  of  atoms  that  have  combined.  The  very  energy 
he  expends  in  moving  his  arm  is  generated  by  the  chemical 
affinities  of  the  food  he  eats.  In  no  case  can  he  do  anything 
but  avail  himself  of  dormant  forces.  This  is  as  true  in  ethics 
as  in  physics.  Moral  feeling  is  a  force — a  force  by  which 
men's  actions  are  to  be  restrained  within  certain  bounds ;  and 
no  legislative  mechanism  can  really  increase  its  results. 
By  how  much  this  force  is  deficient,  by  so  much  must  its 
work  remain  undone.  In  whatever  degree  we  lack  the  quali- 
ties needful  for  our  state,  in  the  same  degree  must  we  suffer. 
Nature  will  not  be  cheated.  Whoso  should  think  to  escape 
the  influence  of  gravitation  by  throwing  his  limbs  into 
some  peculiar  attitude,  would  not  be  more  deceived  than  are 
those  who  hope  to  avoid  the  weight  of  their  depravity  by 
arranging  themselves  into  this  or  that  form  of  political  organi- 
zation. Every  jot  of  the  evil  must  in  one  way  or  other  be 
borne — consciously  or  unconsciously ;  either  in  a  shape  that 
is  recognized,  or  else  under  some  disguise.  No  philosopher's 
stone  of  a  constitution  can  produce  golden  conduct  from 
leaden  instincts.  ~No  apparatus  of  senators,  judges,  and  police, 


THE  DUTY  OP  THE  STATE.  117 

can  compensate  for  the  want  of  an  internal  governing  senti- 
ment. No  legislative  manipulation  can  eke  out  an  insuffi- 
cient morality  into  a  sufficient  one.  No  administrative  sleight 
of  hand  can  save  us  from  ourselves. 

But  must  not  this  imply  that  government  is  of  no  use 
whatever  ?  Not  at  all.  Although  unable  to  alter  the  sum- 
total  of  injustice  to  be  supported,  it  can  still  alter  its  distribu- 
tion. And  this  is  what  it  really  does.  By  its  aid,  men  to  a 
considerable  extent  equalize  the  evil  they  have  to  bear — 
spread  it  out  more  uniformly  over  the  whole  community,  and 
over  the  life  of  each  citizen.  Entire  freedom  to  exercise  the 
faculties,  interrupted  by  entire  deprivations  of  it,  and  marred 
by  the  perpetual  danger  of  these  deprivations,  is  exchanged 
for  a  freedom  on  which  the  restrictions  are  constant  but 
partial.  Instead  of  those  losses  of  life,  of  limb,  or  of  the 
means  of  subsistence,  which,  under  a  state  of  anarchy,  all 
are  liable  to,  and  many  suffer,  a  political  organization  com- 
mits universal  aggressions  of  a  comparatively  mild  type. 
Wrongs  that  were  before  occasional  but  crushing,  are  now 
unceasing  but  bearable.  The  system  is  one  of  mutual  in- 
surance against  moral  disasters.  Just  as  men,  while  they 
cannot  prevent  fires  and  shipwrecks,  can  yet  guarantee  one 
another  against  ruin  from  these,  by  bearing  them  in  common, 
and  distributing  the  injuries  entailed  over  long  periods  of 
time  ;  so,  although  by  uniting  together  for  judicial  purposes 
men  cannot  diminish  the  amount  of  injustice  to  be  borne, 
they  can,  and  do,  insure  themselves  against  its  otherwise 
fatal  results. 

When  we  agreed  that  it  was  the  essential  function  of  the 
State  to  protect — to  administer  the  law  of  equal  freedom — to 
maintain  men's  rights ;  we  virtually  assigned  to  it  the  duty, 
not  only  of  shielding  each  citizen  from  the  trespasses  of  his 
neighbours,  but  of  defending  him,  in  common  with  the  com- 
munity at  large,  against  foreign  aggressions.  An  invading 
force  may  violate  people's  rights  as  much  as,  or  far  more 


118  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

than,  an  equal  body  of  felons ;  and  our  definition  requires 
that  government  shall  resist  transgression  in  the  one  case  as 
much  as  in  the  other.  Protection, — this  is  what  men  seek  by 
political  combination ;  and  whether  it  be  against  internal  or 
external  enemies  matters  not.  Unquestionably  war  is  im- 
moral. But  so  likewise  is  the  violence  used  in  the  execution 
of  justice ;  so  is  all  coercion.  Ethical  law  is  as  certainly 
broken  by  the  deeds  of  judicial  authorities  as  by  those  of  a 
defensive  army.  There  is,  in  principle,  no  difference  what- 
ever between  the  blow  of  a  policeman's  baton  and  the  thrust 
of  a  soldier's  bayonet.  Both  are  infractions  of  the  law  of 
equal  freedom  in  the  persons  of  those  injured.  In  either 
case  we  have  force  sufficient  to  produce  submission ;  and  it 
matters  not  whether  that  force  be  employed  by  a  man  in  red 
or  by  one  in  blue.  Policemen  are  soldiers  who  act  alone ; 
soldiers  are  policemen  who  act  in  concert.  Government 
employs  the  first  to  attack  in  detail  ten  thousand  criminals 
who  separately  make  war  on  society ;  and  it  calls  in  the  last 
when  threatened  by  a  like  number  of  criminals  in  the  shape 
of  drilled  troops.  Resistance  to  foreign  foes  and  resistance 
to  native  ones  having  consequently  the  same  object — the 
maintenance  of  men's  rights,  and  being  effected  by  the  sanr 
means — force,  are  in  their  nature  identical ;  and  no  greater 
condemnation  can  be  passed  on  the  one  than  on  the  other. 
The  doings  of  the  battle-field  merely  exhibit  in  a  concentrated 
form  that  immorality  which  is  inherent  in  government,  and 
attaches  to  all  its  functions.  "What  is  so  manifest  in  its  mili- 
tary acts  is  true  of  its  civil  acts, — it  uses  wrong  to  put  down 
wrong. 

Defensive  warfare  (and  of  course  it  is  solely  to  this  that 
the  foregoing  agreement  applies)  must  therefore  be  tolerated 
as  the  least  of  two  evils.  There  are  indeed  some  who  uncon- 
ditionally condemn  it,  and  would  meet  invasion  by  non-resist- 
ance. To  such  there  are  several  replies. 

First,  consistency  requires  them  to  behave  in  like  fashion 
to  their  fellow-citizens.  They  must  not  only  allow  themselves 


THE  DUTY  OF  THE  STATE.  119 

to  be  cheated,  assaulted,  robbed,  wounded,  without  offering 
active  opposition,  but  must  refuse  help  from  the  civil  power ; 
seeing  that  they  who  employ  force  by  proxy,  are  as  much  re- 
sponsible for  it  as  though  they  employed  it  themselves. 

Again,  such  a  theory  makes  pacific  relationships  between 
men  and  nations  look  needlessly  Utopian.  If  all  agree  not 
to  aggress,  they  must  as  certainly  be  at  peace  with  each  other 
as  though  they  had  all  agreed  not  to  resist.  So  that,  while 
it  sets  up  so  difficult  a  standard  of  behaviour,  the  rule  of  non- 
resistance  is  not  one  whit  more  efficient  as  a  preventive  of 
war,  than  the  rule  of  non-aggression. 

Moreover,  this  principle  of  non-resistance  is  not  deducible 
from  the  moral  law.  The  moral  law  says — Do  not  aggress. 
It  cannot  say — Do  not  resist ;  for  to  say  this  would  be  to 
presuppose  its  own  precepts  broken.  As  explained  at  the 
outset,  Morality  describes  the  conduct  of  perfect  men; 
and  cannot  include  in  its  premises  circumstances  that  arise 
from  imperfection.  That  rule  which  attains  to  universal 
sway  when  all  men  are  what  they  ought  to  be,  must  be  the 
right  rule,  must  it  not  ?  And  that  rule  which  then  becomes 
impossible  of  fulfilment  must  be  the  wrong  one  ?  Well,  in  an 
ideal  state  the  law  of  non-aggression  is  obeyed  by  all — is  the 
vital  principle  of  every  one's  conduct — is  fully  carried  out, 
reigns,  lives ;  whereas  in  such  a  State  the  law  of  non-resist- 
ance necessarily  becomes  a  dead  letter. 

Lastly,  it  can  be  shown  that  non-resistance  is  absolutely 
wrong.  We  may  not  carelessly  abandon  our  dues.  We  may 
not  give  away  our  birthright  for  the  sake  of  peace.  If  it  be 
a  duty  to  respect  other  men's  claims,  so  also  is  it  a  duty  to 
maintain  our  own.  That  which  is  sacred  in  their  persons  is 
sacred  in  ours  also.  Have  we  not  a  faculty  which  makes  us 
feel  and  assert  our  title  to  freedom  of  action,  at  the  same 
time  that,  by  a  reflex  process,  it  enables  us  to  appreciate  the 
like  title  in  our  fellows?  Did  we  not  find  that  this  faculty 
can  act  strongly  on  behalf  of  others,  only  when  it  acts 
strongly  on  our  own  behalf  ?  And  must  we  assume  that, 


120  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

while  its  sympathetic  promptings  are  to  be  diligently  listened 
to,  its  direct  ones  are  to  be  disregarded  ?  No :  we  may  not 
be  passive  under  aggression.  In  the  due  maintenance  of  our 
claims  is  involved  the  practicability  of  our  duties. 

Of  international  arbitration  we  must  say,  as  of  a  free  con- 
stitution, or  a  good  system  of  jurisprudence,  that  its  possibility 
is  a  question  of  time.  The  same  causes  which  once  rendered 
all  government  impossible  have  hitherto  forbidden  this  widest 
extension  of  it.  A  federation  of  peoples — a  universal  society, 
can  exist  only  when  man's  adaptation  to  the  social  state  has 
become  tolerably  complete.  We  have  already  seen  that  in 
the  earliest  stage  of  civilization,  when  the  repulsive  force  is 
strong,  and  the  aggregative  force  weak,  only  small  commu- 
nities are  possible.  A  modification  of  character  causes  these 
gentes,  and  tribes,  and  feudal  lordships,  and  clans,  to  coalesce 
into  nations;  and  a  still  further  modification  will  allow  of 
a  still  further  union. 

Meanwhile,  in  looking  forward  to  some  all-embracing  fed- 
eral arrangement,  we  must  keep  in  mind  that  the  stability  of 
so  complicated  a  political  organization  depends,  not  upon  the 
fitness  of  one  nation  but  upon  the  fitnesses  of  many. 


THE  LIMIT  OF  STATE-DUTY. 

A  FUNCTION  to  each  organ  and  each  organ  to  its  own 
function,  is  the  law  of  all  organization.  To  do  its  work  well, 
an  apparatus  must  possess  special  fitness  for  that  work  ;  and 
this  implies  imfitness  for  any  other  work.  The  lungs  can- 
not digest,  the  heart  cannot  respire,  the  stomach  cannot  propel 
blood.  Each  muscle  and  each  gland  must  have  its  own  par- 
ticular nerve.  There  is  not  a  fibre  in  the  body  but  what  has 
a  channel  to  bring  it  food,  a  channel  to  take  the  surplus 
away,  an  agency  for  stimulating  it  to  perform  its  peculiar 
duty,  and  a  mechanism  to  take  away  effete  matter.  Between 
creatures  of  the  lowest  type  and  creatures  of  the  highest,  we 
similarly  find  the  essential  difference  to  be,  that  in  the  one 
the  vital  actions  are  carried  on  by  a  few  simple  agents,  while 
in  the  other  the  vital  actions  are  severally  decomposed  into 
their  component  parts,  and  each  of  these  parts  has  an  agent  to 
itself.  In  organizations  of  another  order  the  same  principle 
is  apparent.  When  the  manufacturer  discovered  that  by  con- 
fining each  of  his  workmen  wholly  to  one  process,  he  could 
greatly  increase  the  productive  powers  of  his  establishment, 
he  did  but  act  on  this  same  rule  of  one  function  to  one 
organ.  If  we  compare  the  mercantile  arrangements  of  a 
village  with  those  of  a  city,  we  shall  find  that  the  hucksters 
of  the  one  carry  on  many  trades  each,  while  most  shopkeepers 
of  the  other  confine  themselves  to  single  trades ;  showing  us 
how  a  highly-developed  apparatus  for  the  distribution  of 
commodities  is  similarly  distinguished  by  the  subdivision  of 


122  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

duties.  Language,  too,  exemplifies  the  same  truth.  Be- 
tween its  primitive  state,  in  which  it  consisted  of  noth- 
ing but  nouns,  used  vaguely  to  indicate  all  ideas  indis- 
criminately, and  its  present  state,  in  which  it  consists  of 
numerous  "  parts  of  speech,"  the  process  of  growth  has 
been  that  of  gradually  separating  words  into  classes  serv- 
ing different  purposes ;  and  just  as  fast  as  this  process  has 
advanced,  has  language  become  capable  of  adequately  ful- 
filling its  end.* 

May  we  not,  then,  suspect  that  the  assigning  of  one  func- 
tion to  one  organ,  is  the  condition  of  efficiency  in  all  instru- 
mentalities ?  If,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  such  is  the  law  not  only 
of  natural  organizations,  but  of  what,  in  a  superficial  sense, 
we  call  artificial  ones,  does  it  not  seem  probable  that  it 
is  the  universal  law?  "Will  it  not  be  the  law  of  in- 
stitutions? Will  it  not  be  the  law  of  the  State?  Must 
we  not  expect  that  with  a  government  also,  special  adapta- 
tion to  one  end  implies  non-adaptation  to  other  ends? 
And  is  it  not  likely  that  by  devolving  on  a  government 
additional  function,  the  due  discharge  of  its  peculiar  func- 
tion will  be  sacrificed?  And  would  not  this  imply  that 
a  government  ought  not  to  undertake  such  additional 
functions? 

But  laying  aside  analogy,  let  us  inquire  whether  it  is  not 
the  fact  that  in  assuming  any  office  besides  its  essential  one, 
the  State  begins  to  lose  the  power  of  fulfilling  its  essential 
one.  So  long  as  our  joint-stock  protection-society  confines 
itself  to  guaranteeing  the  rights  of  its  members,  it  is  pretty 
certain  to  be  co-extensive  with  the  nation ;  for  while  such 
an  organization  is  needed  at  all,  most  men  will  sacrifice  some- 
thing to  secure  its  guardianship.  But  let  an  additional  duty 

*  Until  now  (1890)  that  I  am  re-reading  Social  Statics  for  the  purpose 
of  making  this  abridgment,  the  above  paragraph  had  remained  for  these  40 
years  unremembered.  It  must  have  been  written  in  1849;  and  it  shows 
that  at  that  date  I  had  entered  on  the  line  of  thought  which,  pursued  in 
after  years,  led  to  the  general  law  of  evolution. 


THE   LIMIT  OF  STATE-DUTY.  123 

be  assigned  to  it,  and  there  will  immediately  arise  more  or 
less  schism.  Observe  how  the  matter  stands  between  the 
government  and  the  dissentient  citizen.  Says  the  citi- 
zen: — 

"  What  is  it  that  you,  as  the  ruling  agency,  have  been 
appointed  for  ?  Is  it  not  to  maintain  the  rights  of  those  who 
employ  you ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  guarantee  to  each  the 
fullest  freedom  for  the  exercise  of  his  faculties  compatible 
with  the  equal  freedom  of  all  others  ? " 

"  It  has  been  so  decided." 

"  And  it  has  been  also  decided  that  you  are  justified  in 
diminishing  this  freedom  only  to  such  an  extent  as  may  be 
needful  for  preserving  the  remainder,  has  it  not? " 

"  That  is  evidently  a  corollary." 

"  Exactly.  And  now  let  me  ask  what  is  this  property, 
this  money,  of  which,  in  the  shape  of  taxes,  you  are  demand- 
ing from  me  an  additional  amount  for  a  further  purpose  ?  Is 
it  not  that  which  enables  me  to  get  food,  clothing,  shelter, 
recreation,  or,  to  repeat  the  original  expression — that  on 
which  I  depend  for  the  exercise  of  most  of  my  faculties  ? " 

"  It  is." 

"Therefore  to  decrease  my  property  is  to  decrease  my 
freedom  to  exercise  my  faculties,  is  it  not  ? " 

"Clearly." 

"  Then  this  new  impost  of  yours  will  practically  decrease 
my  freedom  to  exercise  my  faculties  ? " 

"Yes." 

"  Well,  do  you  not  now  perceive  the  contradiction  ?  In- 
stead of  acting  the  part  of  a  protector  you  are  acting  the  part 
of  an  aggressor.  What  you  were  appointed  to  guarantee  me 
and  others,  you  are  now  taking  away.  To  see  that  the  lib- 
erty of  each  man  to  pursue  the  objects  of  his  desires  is  un- 
restricted, save  by  the  like  liberty  of  all,  is  your  special  func- 
tion. To  diminish  this  liberty  by  means  of  taxes,  or  civil 
restraints,  more  than  is  needful  for  performing  such  function, 
is  wrong,  because  adverse  to  the  function  itself.  Now  your 


124  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

new  impost  does  so  diminish  this  liberty  more  than  is  need- 
ful, and  is  consequently  unjustifiable." 

It  will  perhaps  be  urged,  however,  that  the  evil  done  by  a 
government,  when  it  thus  oversteps  its  original  duty,  is  only 
an  apparent  one ;  seeing  that  although  it  diminishes  men's 
spheres  of  action  in  one  direction,  it  adds  to  them  in  another. 
All  such  supplementary  functions,  an  objector  may  say,  sub- 
serve in  some  way  or  other  the  wants  of  society ;  that  is,  they 
facilitate  the  satisfaction  of  men's  desires ;  that  is,  they  afford 
to  men  greater  freedom  for  the  exercise  of  their  faculties. 
For  if  you  argue  that  taking  away  a  man's  property  di- 
minishes his  freedom  to  exercise  his  faculties,  because  it 
diminishes  his  means  of  exercising  them,  then  you  must  in 
fairness  admit  that,  by  procuring  for  him  certain  of  the 
objects  he  desires,  or  by  taking  away  the  obstacles  that  he 
between  him  and  those  objects,  or  by  otherwise  helping  him 
to  his  ends,  the  State  is  increasing  his  power  to  exercise 
his  faculties,  and  hence  is  practically  increasing  his  free- 
dom. 

To  all  which  the  answer  is,  that  cutting  away  men's 
opportunities  on  one  side,  to  add  to  them  on  another,  is  at 
best  accompanied  by  a  loss.  Let  us  remember  that  the  force 
by  which  a  society,  through  its  government,  works  out  certain 
results,  is  not  increased  by  administrative  mechanisms,  but 
that  part  of  it  escapes  in  friction.  Government  evidently 
cannot  create  any  facilities  for  the  exercise  of  faculties ;  all  it 
can  do  is  to  re-distribute  them.  Set  down  the  amount  of 
power  to  satisfy  his  wants,  which  it  takes  from  a  citizen  in 
extra  taxes ;  deduct  the  serious  waste  occurring  under  official 
manipulations ;  and  the  remainder,  transformed  into  some 
new  shape,  is  all  that  can  be  returned  to 'him.  The  transac- 
tion is  consequently  a  losing  one.  So  that  while,  in  attempt- 
ing to  serve  the  public  by  undertaking  supplementary  func- 
tions, a  government  fails  in  its  duty  towards  all  who  dissent ; 
it  does  not  really  compensate  for  this  by  additional  advantages 


THE  LIMIT  OP  STATE-DUTY.  125 

afforded  to  the  rest ;  to  whom  it  merely  gives  with  one  hand, 
less  than  it  takes  away  with  the  other. 

But  in  truth  the  transaction  is  a  yet  more  detrimental  one 
than  it  thus  appears,  for  even  the  gift  is  a  delusion.  The 
expediency-philosophy,  of  which  this  general  State-superin- 
tendence is  a  practical  expression,  embodies  the  belief  that 
government  ought  not  only  to  guarantee  men  the  unmolested 
pursuit  of  happiness,  but  should  provide  the  happiness  for 
them.  Now  no  scheme  could  be  more  self-defeating.  Man, 
as  briefly  delineated  at  the  outset  (p.  16),  consists  of  a 
congeries  of  faculties  qualifying  him  for  surrounding  con- 
ditions. Each  of  these  faculties,  if  normally  developed,  yields 
to  him,  when  exercised,  a  gratification  constituting  part  of  his 
happiness;  while  in  the  act  of  exercising  it,  some  deed  is 
done  subserving  the  wants  of  the  man  as  a  whole,  and 
affording  to  the  other  faculties  the  opportunties  of  perform- 
ing in  turn  their  respective  functions,  and  of  producing  every 
one  its  peculiar  pleasure :  so  that,  when  healthily  balanced, 
each  subserves  all  and  all  subserve  each.  We  cannot  live  at 
all  unless  this  mechanism  works  with  some  efficiency ;  and 
we  can  live  entirely  only  when  the  reciprocity  between 
capacities  and  requirements  is  perfect.  Evidently,  then,  one 
who  is  thus  rightly  constituted  cannot  be  helped.  To  do 
anything  for  him  by  some  artificial  agency,  is  to  supersede 
certain  of  his  powers — is  to  leave  them  unexercised,  and 
therefore  to  diminish  his  happiness. 

"  But  men  are  not  complete ;  they  are  not  healthily  de- 
veloped ;  they  have  not  capacities  in  harmony  with  their 
wants ;  and  therefore,  as  matters  stand,  a  government  does 
not  by  its  interpositions  pre-occupy  offices  which  there  are 
faculties  to  fill."  Very  true ;  but  next  to  being  what  we 
ought  to  be,  the  most  desirable  thing  is  that  we  should  become 
what  we  ought  to  be  as  fast  as  possible.  We  have  to  lose 
the  characteristics  which  fitted  us  for  our  original  state,  and 
to  gain  those  which  will  fit  us  for  our  present  state ;  and  the 


126  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

question  to  be  asked,  respecting  these  mechanical  remedies 
for  our  deficiencies,  is — do  they  facilitate  the  change  ?  A 
moment's  thought  will  convince  us  that  they  retard  it. 
Demand  and  supply  is  the  law  of  life  as  well  as  the  law  of 
trade.  Would  you  draw  out  and  increase  some  feeble  senti- 
ment ?  Then  you  must  set  it  to  do,  as  well  as  it  can,  the 
work  required  of  it.  It  must  be  kept  ever  active,  ever 
strained,  ever  inconvenienced  by  its  incompetence.  Under 
this  treatment  it  will,  in  the  slow  course  of  generations,  attain 
to  efficiency;  and  what  was  once  its  impossible  task  will 
become  the  source  of  a  healthy,  pleasurable,  and  desired 
excitement.  But  let  a  State-instrumentality  be  thrust  be- 
tween such  faculty  and  its  work,  and  the  process  of  adapta- 
tion is  at  once  suspended.  The  embryo  agency  now  super- 
seded by  some  commission — some  board  and  staff  of  officers, 
straightway  dwindles ;  for  power  is  as  inevitably  lost  by 
inactivity  as  it  is  gained  by  activity.  Hence,  humanity  no 
longer  goes  on  moulding  itself  into  harmony  with  the  natural 
requirements  of  the  social  state ;  but  begins,  instead,  to  assume 
a  form  fitting  these  artificial  requirements.  And  thus,  as 
before  said,  not  only  does  a  government  reverse  its  function 
by  taking  away  more  property  than  is  needful  for  protective 
purposes,  but  even  what  it  gives,  in  return  for  the  excess  so 
taken,  is  in  essence  a  loss. 

There  is  indeed  one  faculty,  or  rather  combination  of 
faculties,  for  whose  short-comings  the  State,  as  far  as  in  it 
lies,  may  advantageously  compensate — that,  namely,  by  which 
society  is  made  possible.  It  is  clear  that  any  being  whose 
constitution  is  to  be  moulded  into  fitness  for  new  conditions 
of  existence,  must  be  placed  under  those  conditions.  This 
granted,  it  follows  that  as  man  has  been,  and  is  still,  deficient 
in  those  feelings  which  prevent  the  recurring  antagonisms  of 
individuals  and  their  consequent  disunion,  some  artificial 
agency  is  required  by  which  their  union  may  be  maintained; 
Only  by  the  process  of  adaptation  itself,  can  be  produced  that 


THE  LIMIT  OF  STATE-DUTY.  127 

character  which  makes  social  equilibrium  spontaneous.  And 
hence,  while  this  process  is  going  on,  an  instrumentality 
must  be  employed,  firstly,  to  bind  men  into  the  social  state, 
and  secondly  to  check  all  conduct  endangering  the  existence  of 
that  state.  Such  an  instrumentality  we  have  in  a  government. 
And  now  mark  that  whether  we  consider  government  from 
this  point  of  view,  or  from  that  previously  occupied,  our  con- 
clusions respecting  it  are  in  essence  identical.  For  when 
government  fulfils  the  function  here  assigned  it,  of  retaining 
men  in  the  circumstances  to  which  they  are  to  be  adapted,  it 
fulfils  the  function  which  we  on  other  grounds  assigned  it — 
that  of  protector.  To  administer  justice, — to  mount  guard 
over  men's  rights, — is  simply  to  render  society  possible.  And 
seeing  that  the  two  definitions  are  thus  at  root  the  same,  we 
shall  be  prepared  for  the  fact  that,  in  whichever  way  we  specify 
its  duty,  the  State  cannot  exceed  that  duty  without  defeating 
itself  For,  if  regarded  as  a  protector,  we  find  that  the 
moment  it  does  anything  more  than  protect,  it  becomes  an 
aggressor  instead  of  a  protector ;  and,  if  regarded  as  a  help 
to  adaptation,  we  find  that  when  it  does  anything  more  than 
sustain  the  social  state,  it  retards  adaptation  instead  of  hasten- 
ing it. 

To  the  assertion  that  the  boundary  line  of  State-duty  as 
above  drawn  is  at  the  wrong  place,  the  obvious  rejoinder  is — 
show  us  where  it  should  be  drawn.  This  appeal  the  expe- 
diency-philosophers have  never  yet  been  able  to  answer.  Their 
alleged  definitions  are  no  definitions  at  all.  As  was  proved  at 
the  outset,  to  say  that  government  ought  to  do  that  which  is 
"  expedient,"  or  to  do  that  which  will  tend  to  produce  the 
"  greatest  happiness,"  or  to  do  that  which  will  subserve  the 
"general  good,"  is  to  say  just  nothing ;  for  there  are  count- 
less disagreements  respecting  the  natures  of  these  desiderata. 
A  definition  of  which  the  terms  are  indefinite  is  an  absurdity. 
Whilst  the  practical  interpretation  of  "expediency"  remains 
a  matter  of  opinion,  to  say  that  a  government  should  do  that 


128  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

which  is  "  expedient,"  is  to  say  that  it  should  do,  what  we 
think  it  should  do  ! 

Still  then  our  demand  is — a  definition.  Between  the  two 
extremes  of  its  possible  action,  where  lies  the  proper  limita- 
tion  ?  Shall  it  extend  its  interference  to  the  fixing  of  creeds, 
as  in  the  old  times  ;  or  to  overlooking  modes  of  manufacture, 
farming  operations,  and  domestic  affairs,  as  it  once  did ;  or  to 
commerce,  as  of  late — to  popular  education,  as  now — to  public 
health,  as  already — to  dress,  as  in  China — to  literature,  as  in 
Austria — to  charity,  to  manners,  to  amusements  ?  If  not  to 
all  of  them,  to  which  of  them  ?  Should  the  perplexed  in- 
quirer seek  refuge  in  authority,  he  will  find  precedents  not 
only  for  these  but  for  many  more  such  interferences.  If,  like 
those  who  disapprove  of  master-tailors  having  their  work 
done  off  the  premises,  or  like  those  who  want  to  prevent  the 
produce  of  industrial  prisons  displacing  that  of  the  artizans, 
or  like  those  who  would  restrain  charity-school  children  from 
competing  with  seamstresses,  he  thinks  it  desirable  to  meddle 
with  trade-arrangements,  there  are  plenty  of  exemplars  for  him. 
There  is  the  law  of  Henry  YIL,  which  directed  people  at  what 
fairs  they  should  sell  their  goods ;  and  that  of  Edward  VI., 
which  enacted  a  fine  of  £100  for  a  usurious  bargain  ;  and  that 
of  James  I.,  which  prescribed  the  quantity  of  ale  to  be  sold 
for  a  penny ;  and  that  of  Henry  VIII.,  which  made  it  penal  to 
sell  any  pins  but  such  as  are  "  double  headed,  and  their  head 
soldered  fast  to  the  shank,  and  well  smoothed ;  the  shank  well 
shaven ;  the  point  well  and  round-filed  and  sharpened."  He  has 
the  countenance,  too,  of  those  enactments  which  fixed  the 
wages  of  labour ;  and  of  those  which  dictated  to  farmers,  as  in 
1533,  when  the  sowing  of  hemp  and  flax  was  made  compul- 
sory ;  and  of  those  which  forbade  the  use  of  certain  materials, 
as  that  now  largely-consumed  article,  logwood,  was  forbidden 
in  1597.  If  he  approves  of  so  extended  a  superintendence, 
perhaps  he  would  adopt  M.  Louis  Blanc's  idea  that  "  govern- 
ment should  be  considered  as  the  supreme  regulator  of  pro- 
duction ; "  and  having  adopted  it,  push  State-control  as  far 


THE  LIMIT  OF  STATE-DUTY.  129 

as  it  was  once  carried  in  France,  when  manufacturers  were 
pilloried  for  defects  in  the  materials  they  employed,  and  in 
the  textures  of  their  fabrics;  when  some  were  fined  for 
weaving  of  worsted  a  kind  of  cloth  which  the  law  said  should 
be  made  of  mohair,  and  others  because  their  camlets  were  not 
of  the  specified  width  ;  and  when  a  man  was  not  at  liberty  to 
choose  the  place  for  his  establishment,  nor  to  work  at  all 
seasons,  nor  to  work  for  everybody.  Is  this  considered  too 
detailed  an  interference  ?  Then,  perhaps,  greater  favour  will 
be  shown  to  those  German  regulations  by  which  a  shoemaker 
is  prevented  from  following  his  craft  until  an  inspecting  jury 
has  certified  his  competence ;  which  disable  a  man  who  has 
chosen  one  calling  from  ever  adopting  another ;  and  which 
forbid  any  foreign  tradesman  from  settling  in  a  German  town 
without  a  licence.  And  if  work  is  to  be  regulated,  is  it  not 
proper  that  work  should  be  provided,  and  the  idle  compelled 
to  perform  a  due  amount  of  it  ?  In  which  case  how  shall  we 
deal  with  our  vagrant  population  ?  Shall  we  take  a  hint  from 
Fletcher  of  Saltoun,  who  warmly  advocated  the  establishment 
of  slavery  in  Scotland  as  a  boon  to  "  so  many  thousands  of 
our  people  who  are  at  this  day  dying  for  want  of  bread  "  ?  or 
shall  we  adopt  the  analogous  suggestion  of  Mr.  Carlyle,  who 
would  remedy  the  distresses  of  Ireland  by  organizing  its 
people  into  drilled  regiments  of  diggers?  The  hours  of 
labour  too — what  must  be  done  about  these  ?  Having  ac- 
ceded to  the  petition  of  the  factory-workers,  ought  we  not  to 
entertain  that  of  the  journeyman-bakers  ?  and  if  that  of  the 
journeyman  bakers,  why  not,  as  Mr.  Cobden  asks,  consider 
the  cases  of  the  glass-blowers,  the  nightmen,  the  iron-founders, 
the  Sheffield  knife-grinders,  and  indeed  all  other  classes,  in- 
cluding the  hardworked  M.P.'s  themselves  ?  And  when  em- 
ployment has  been  provided,  and  the  hours  of  labour  fixed, 
and  trade-regulations  settled,  we  must  decide  how  far  the 
State  ought  to  look  after  people's  minds,  and  morals,  and 
health.  There  is  this  education  question :  having  satisfied 
the  prevalent  wish  for  government  schools  with  tax-paid 


130  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

teachers,  and  adopted  Mr.  Ewart's  plan  for  town-libraries  and 
museums,  should  we  not  canvass  the  supplementary  proposal 
to  have  national  lecturers  ?  and  if  this  proposal  is  assented 
to,  would  it  not  be  well  to  carry  out  the  scheme  of  Sir  David 
Brewster,  who  desired  to  have  "  men  ordained  by  the  State 
to  the  undivided  functions  of  science" — "an  intellectual 
priesthood,"  "  to  develop  the  glorious  truths  which  time  and 
space  embosom  *  "  ?  Then  having  established  "  an  intellectual 
priesthood  "  to  keep  company  with  our  religious  one,  a  priest- 
hood of  physic,  such  as  is  advocated  by  certain  feeless  medical 
men,  and  of  which  we  have  already  the  germ  in  our  union 
doctors,  would  nicely  complete  the  trio.  And  when  it  had 
been  agreed  to  put  the  sick  under  the  care  of  public  officials, 
consistency  would  of  course  demand  the  adoption  of  Mr.  G. 
A.  Walker's  system  of  government  funerals,  under  which 
"  those  in  authority  "  are  "  to  take  especial  care  "  that  "  the 
poorest  of  our  brethren"  shall  have  "an  appropriate  and 
solemn  transmission "  to  the  grave,  and  are  to  grant  in  cer- 
tain cases  "  gratuitous  means  of  interment."  Having  carried 
out  thus  far  the  communist  plan  of  doing  everything  for 
everybody,  should  we  not  consider  the  peoples'  amusements, 
and,  taking  example  from  the  opera-subsidy  in  France, 
establish  public  ball-rooms,  and  gratis  concerts,  and  cheap 
theatres,  with  State-paid  actors,  musicians,  and  masters  of  the 
ceremonies :  using  care  at  the  same  time  duly  to  regulate  the 
popular  taste,  as  indeed,  in  the  case  of  the  Art-Union  sub- 
scribers, our  present  Government  proposed  to  do  ?  Speaking 
of  taste  naturally  reminds  us  of  dress,  in  which  sundry  im- 
provements might  be  enforced ;  for  instance — the  abolition  of 
hats:  we  should  have  good  precedents  either  in  Edward  IV., 
who  find  those  wearing  "  any  gown  or  mantell "  not  according 
to  specification,  and  who  limited  the  superfluity  of  peoples' 
boot-toes,  or  in  Charles  II.,  who  prescribed  the  material  for 
his  subjects'  grave-clothes.  The  matter  of  health,  too,  would 

*  See  Address  to  the  British  Association  at  Edinburgh,  in  1850. 


THE  LIMIT  OF  STATE-DUTY.  131 

need  attending  to ;  and,  in  dealing  with  this,  might  we  not 
profitably  reconsider  those  ancient  statutes  which  protected 
peoples'  stomachs  by  restricting  the  expenses  of  their  tables ; 
or,  remembering  how  injurious  are  our  fashionable  late  hours, 
might  we  not  advantageously  take  a  hint  from  the  old  Nor- 
man practice,  and  (otherwise  prompted)  fix  the  time  at  which 
people  should  put  out  their  fires  and  go  to  bed ;  or  might  we 
not  with  benefit  act  upon  the  opinion  of  M.  Beausobre,  a 
statesman  who  said  it  was  "  proper  to  watch  during  the  fruit 
season,  lest  the  people  eat  that  which  is  not  ripe "  ?  And 
then,  by  way  of  making  the  superintendence  complete,  would 
it  not  be  well  to  follow  the  example  of  the  Danish  king  who 
gave  directions  to  his  subjects  how  they  should  scour  their 
floors,  and  polish  their  furniture  ? 

Multiply  these  questions;  add  to  them  the  endless  sub- 
ordinate ones  to  which  they  must  give  rise ;  and  some  idea 
may  be  formed  of  the  maze  through  which  the  expediency- 
philosopher  has  to  find  his  way.  Where  now  is  his  clue  ? 
If  he  would  escape  the  charge  of  political  empiricism,  he 
must  show  us  some  test  by  which  he  can  in  each  case 
ascertain  whether  or  not  State-superintendence  is  desirable. 
Between  the  one  extreme  of  entire  non-interference,  and  the 
other  extreme  in  which  every  citizen  is  to  be  transformed 
into  a  grown-up  baby,  there  lie  innumerable  stopping  places ; 
and  he  who  would  have  the  State  do  more  than  protect,  is 
required  to  say  where  he  means  to  draw  the  line,  and  to  give 
us  reasons  why  it  must  be  just  there  and  nowhere  else. 

After  the  difficulty  of  finding  out  the  thing  to  be  done, 
comes  the  other  difficulty  of  finding  out  the  way  to  do  it. 
Let  us  excuse  the  expediency-philosopher  one  half  of  his 
task — let  us  assume  something  to  be  unanimously  agreed  to 
as  a  proper  undertaking;  and  now  suppose  we  enquire  of 
him — How  about  your  means  of  accomplishing  it  ?  Are  you 
quite  sure  that  your  apparatus  will  not  break  down  under  its 
work  ?  quite  sure  that  it  will  produce  the  result  you  wish  ? 


132  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

quite  sure  that  it  will  not  produce  some  very  different  result? 
There  is  no  lack  of  warnings.  "  Let  us  put  down  usury,"  said 
to  themselves  the  rulers  of  the  middle  ages.  They  tried,  and 
did  just  the  reverse  of  what  they  intended ;  for  it  turned 
out  that  "all  regulations  interfering  with  the  interest  of 
money  render  its  terms  more  rigorous  and  burdensome." 
"  We  will  exterminate  Protestantism,"  whispered  the  Conti- 
nental Catholics  to  one  another.  They  tried,  and  instead  of 
doing  this  they  planted  in  England  the  germs  of  a  manufac- 
turing organization  which  has  to  a  great  extent  superseded 
their  own.  "  It  will  be  well  to  give  the  labouring  classes 
fixed  settlements,"  thought  the  Poor-Law  legislators;  and, 
having  acted  out  this  thought,  there  eventually  grew  up  the 
clearance  system,  with  its  overcrowded  cottages  and  non- 
resident labour-gangs.  "  We  must  suppress  these  brothels," 
decided  the  authorities  of  Berlin  in  1845.  They  did  suppress 
them ;  and  in  1848,  the  registrar's  books  and  the  hospital 
returns  proved  matters  to  be  considerably  worse  than  before.* 
"  Suppose  we  compel  the  London  parishes  to  maintain  and 
educate  their  pauper  children  in  the  country,"  said  statesmen 
in  the  time  of  George  III. ;  "  it  would  greatly  tend  to  the 
preservation  of  the  lives  of  the  infant  parish  poor."  So  they 
passed  the  7  George  III.,  c.  39 ;  and  by-and-by  there  began 
the  business  of  child-farming,  ending  in  the  Tooting  tragedy. 
Are  not  such  warnings  worthy  of  attention  ? 

Then  as  to  his  administrative  mechanisms — can  he  answer 
for  the  satisfactory  working  of  them  ?  The  common  remark 
that  public  business  is  worse  managed  than  all  other  business, 
is  not  altogether  unfounded.  To-day  he  will  find  it  illustrated 
in  the  doings  of  a  department  which  makes  a  valuable  estate 
like  the  New  Forest,  a  loss  to  the  country  of  £3000  a  year ; 
which  allowed  Salcey  Forest  to  be  wholly  cut  down  and 
made  away  with  by  a  dishonest  agent ;  and  which,  in  1848, 
had  its  accounts  made  up  to  March,  1839,  only.  To-morrow 

*  Reports  of  Dr.  Fr.  J.  Behrend.    See  Medical  Times,  March  1C,  1850. 


THE  LIMIT  OP  STATE-DUTY.  133 

lie  may  read  of  Admiralty  bunglings — of  ships  ill-built, 
pulled  to  pieces,  rebuilt,  and  patched  ;  and  of  a  sluggishness 
which  puts  the  national  dockyards  "  about  seven  years " 
behind  all  others*  Now  the  exposure  is  of  an  extravagance 
which  erects  gaols  at  a  cost  of  £1200  per  prisoner ;  and  now 
of  a  carelessness  which  permits  important  legal  records  to  rot 
among  rubbish.  Here  is  a  sailor  of  whom  the  State  demanded 
sixpence  a  month  towards  a  hospital  which  was  never  pro- 
vided, and  whose  pension  from  the  Merchant-Seamen's  Fund 
is  nothing  like  what  it  would  have  been  from  an  ordinary 
insurance  society ;  and  there,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  Mint- 
moneyer  who  gets  more  than  £4000  a  year  for  doing  what  a 
tithe  of  the  amount  would  amply  pay  for.  Official  delay  is 
seen  in  the  snail-paced  progress  of  the  Museum  Catalogue ; 
official  mismanagement  in  the  building  of  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment not  fit  for  speaking  in ;  and  official  perversity  in  the 
opposition  always  made  to  improvements  by  the  Excise,  the 
Customs,  and  the  Post-Office  authorities.  Does  the  expedi- 
ency-philosopher feel  no  apprehensions  on  contemplating 
such  evidence  ?  Or,  as  one  specially  professing  to  be  guided 
by  experience,  does  he  think  that  on  the  whole  experience  is 
in  his  favour  ? 

"  It  is  a  gross  delusion  to  believe  in  the  sovereign  power 
of  political  machinery,"  says  M.  Guizot.  True :  and  it  is  not 
only  a  gross  delusion  but  a  very  dangerous  one.  Let  a  people 
believe  in  government-omnipotence,  and  they  will  be  pretty 
certain  to  get  up  revolutions  to  achieve  impossibilities. 
Between  their  exorbitant  ideas  of  what  the  State  ought  to  do 
for  them  on  the  one  side,  and  its  miserable  performances  on 
the  other,  there  will  surely  be  generated  feelings  extremely 
inimical  to  social  order. 

But  this  belief  in  "  the  sovereign  power  of  political  ma- 
chinery "  is  not  born  with  men ;  they  are  taught  it.  And 
how  are  they  taught  it?  Evidently  by  these  preachers  of  uni- 
versal legislative  superintendence,  and  by  having  seen,  from 


134  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

their  childhood,  all  kinds  of  functions  undertaken  by  govern- 
ment officials.  The  idea  which,  in  his  comment  upon  the  late 
events  in  France,  M.  Guizot  calls  a  "gross  delusion,"  is  an 
idea  which  he,  in  common  with  others,  has  been  practically 
inculcating.  He  has  kept  in  action,  and  in  some  cases  even 
extended,  that  system  of  official  supervision  to  which  this 
idea  owes  its  birth.  Was  it  not  natural  that  men  living 
under  the  regulation  of  legions  of  prefects,  sub-prefects,  in- 
spectors, controllers,  intendants,  commissaries,  and  other  civil 
employes  to  the  number  of  535,000 — men  who  were  educated 
by  the  government,  and  taught  religion  by  it — who  had  to 
ask  its  consent  before  they  could  stir  from  home — who  could 
not  publish  a  handbill  without  a  permit  from  the  authorities, 
nor  circulate  a  newspaper  after  the  censor's  veto — who  daily 
saw  it  dictating  regulations  for  railways,  inspecting  and  man- 
aging mines,  building  bridges,  making  roads,  and  erecting 
monuments — who  were  led  to  regard  it  as  the  patron  of 
science,  literature,  and  the  fine  arts,  and  as  the  dispenser  of 
honours  and  rewards — who  found  it  undertaking  the  manu- 
facture of  gunpowder,  superintending  the  breeding  of  horses 
and  sheep,  playing  the  part  of  public  pawnbroker,  and  mo- 
nopolizing the  sale  of  tobacco  and  snuff — who  saw  it  attend' 
ing  to  everything,  from  the  execution  of  public  works  down 
to  the  sanitary  inspection  of  prostitutes ;  was  it  not  natural 
that  men  so  circumstanced  should  acquire  exalted  ideas  of 
State  power  ?  And,  having  acquired  such  ideas,  were  they 
not  likely  to  desire  the  State  to  compass  for  them  unattain- 
able benefits ;  to  get  angry  because  it  did  not  do  this ;  and 
to  attempt  by  violent  means  the  enforcement  of  their 
wishes?*  Evidently  the  reply  must  be  affirmative.  And  if 

*  Just  in  time — just  while  I  have  before  me  these  pages  of  this  revised 
edition,  there  comes  a  striking  verification.  A  propos  of  the  measures  now 
being  taken  for  dealing  with  the  famine,  and  the  effects  produced  on  the 
minds  of  the  peasants,  a  report  from  Russia  in  The  Standard  for  28th 
November,  1891,  says : — "  The  peasant  says  to  himself  that  the  Czar  has  fed 
him  up  to  now,  and  shall  continue  to  feed  him.  In  one  case  I  hear  that  an 


THE  LIMIT  OF  STATE-DUTY.  135 

so,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  this  over-stepping  of  the 
proper  sphere  of  government,  leading  as  it  does  to  that 
"  gross  delusion,"  a  belief  in  "  the  sovereign  power  of  political 
machinery,"  is  the  natural  forerunner  of  such  schemes  as 
those  of  Blanc  and  Cabet,  and  of  that  confusion  which  the 
attempt  to  realize  them  by  State-agency  must  produce. 

There  are  other  modes,  too,  in  which  social  stability  is  en- 
dangered by  this  interference  system.  It  is  a  very  expensive 
system.  The  further  it  is  carried  the  larger  become  the 
revenues  required ;  and  we  all  know  that  heavy  taxation  is 
inseparable  from  discontent.  Moreover,  it  is  in  its  nature 
essentially  despotic.  In  governing  everything  it  unavoidably 
cramps  men;  and,  by  diminishing  their  liberty  of  action, 
angers  them.  It  galls  by  its  infinity  of  ordinances  and  re- 
strictions ;  it  offends  by  professing  to  help  those  whom  it  will 
not  allow  to  help  themselves ;  and  it  vexes  by  its  swarms  of 
dictatorial  officials,  who  are  for  ever  stepping  in  between  men 
and  their  pursuits.  Those  regulations  by  which  the  French 
manufacturers  were  hampered  during  the  last  century,  when 
the  State  decided  on  the  persons  to  be  employed,  the  articles 
to  be  made,  the  materials  to  be  used,  and  the  qualities  of  the 
products — when  inspectors  broke  the  looms  and  burnt  the 
goods  that  were  not  made  according  to  law ;  when  improve- 
ments were  illegal  and  inventors  were  fined ;  had  no  small 
share  in  producing  the  great  revolution.  Nor,  among  the 
causes  which  conspired  to  overthrow  the  government  of 
Louis  Philippe,  must  we  forget  the  irritation  generated  by  an 
analogous  supervision,  under  which  a  mine  cannot  be  opened 
without  the  permission  of  the  authorities;  under  which  a 
bookseller  or  printer  may  have  his  business  suspended  by  the 
withdrawal  of  his  licence;  and  under  which  it  is  penal  to 
take  a  bucket  of  water  out  of  the  sea. 

Thus,  if  we  regard  government  as  a  means  of  upholding 

official  who  endeavoured  to  explain  the  impossibility  of  this  was  met 
by  the  reply — '  If  our  Czar  cannot  feed  us,  we  will  have  a  Czar  who 
can.' " 


136  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

the  social  state,  we  find  that,  besides  suffering  a  direct  loss  of 
power  to  perform  its  duty  on  attempting  anything  else,  there 
are  several  subsidiary  ways  in  which  the  assumption  of  ad- 
ditional functions  endangers  the  fulfilment  of  its  original 
function. 


THE  [REGULATION  OF  COMMERCE. 

IN  putting  a  veto  upon  any  commercial  intercourse,  or 
in  putting  obstacles  in  the  way  of  any  such  intercourse,  a 
government  trenches  upon  men's  liberties  of  action  ;  and  by 
so  doing  directly  reverses  its  function.  To  secure  for  each 
man  the  fullest  freedom  to  exercise  his  faculties  compatible 
with  the  like  freedom  of  all  others,  we  find  to  be  the  State's 
duty.  Now  trade-prohibitions  and  trade-restrictions  not 
only  do  not  secure  this  freedom,  but  they  take  it  away.  So 
that  in  enforcing  them  the  State  is  transformed  from  a  main- 
tainer  of  rights  into  a  violator  of  rights.  If  it  be  criminal  in 
a  civil  power  commissioned  to  shield  us  from  murder  to  turn 
murderer  itself;  if  it  be  criminal  in  it  to  play  the  thief, 
though  set  to  keep  off  thieves ;  then  must  it  be  criminal  in  it 
to  deprive  men,  in  any  way,  of  liberty  to  pursue  the  objects 
they  desire,  when  it  was  appointed  to  insure  them  that  lib- 
erty. 

We  saw  that  as  unjust  institutions  derive  their  vicious- 
ness  from  moral  defects  in  the  people  living  under  them, 
they  must  be  uniformly  pervaded  by  that  viciousness — that 
as  social  laws,  creeds,  and  arrangements  consist  merely  of 
solidified  character,  the  same  character  will  be  shown  in  all 
the  social  laws,  creeds,  and  arrangements  which  co-exist ;  and, 
further,  that  any  process  of  amelioration  will  affect  them 
simultaneously.  We  saw  that  tyranny  in  forms  of  govern- 
ment, tyranny  in  the  conduct  of  lord  to  serf,  tyranny  in  re- 
ligious organizations  and  discipline,  tyranny  in  the  marital 


138  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

relationship,  and  tyranny  in  the  treatment  of  children, 
regularly  nourish  together  and  regularly  decrease  at  like 
rates.  In  the  same  category  we  must  now  put — tyranny  in 
commercial  laws.  Sinking  those  minor  irregularities  which 
pervade  all  Nature's  processes,  we  shall  find  that  from  the 
days  when  exportation  was  a  capital  crime,  down  to  our  own 
free-trade  era,  there  has  been  a  constant  ratio  kept  between 
the  stringency  of  mercantile  restraints  and  the  stringency  of 
other  restraints,  as  there  has  also  between  the  increase  of  com- 
mercial liberty  and  the  increase  of  general  liberty. 

A  few  facts  will  sufficiently  exemplify  this.  Take  as  one 
the  instance  just  alluded  to,  in  which  associated  with  auto- 
cratic rule  in  Church,  in  State,  and  in  feudal  hall,  we  find 
Edward  III.,  for  the  purpose  of  making  foreigners  come  and 
buy  in  our  markets,  prohibiting  his  subjects  from  sending 
abroad  any  staple  goods, "  under  penalty  of  death  and  con- 
fiscation;" and  further  enacting  "that  the  law  should  be 
unalterable  either  by  himself  or  his  successors."  Observe, 
too,  how  this  same  despotic  spirit  was  exhibited  in  the  regu- 
lations requiring  these  Continental  traders  to  reside  during 
their  stay  with  certain  inspectors,  commissioned  to  see  the 
cargoes  sold  within  a  specified  time  and  the  proceeds  re- 
invested in  English  goods ;  and  charged  to  transmit  to  the 
Exchequer  periodical  statements  of  each  merchant's  bargains : 
regulations,  by  the  way,  of  which  the  abandonment  was  in 
after  times  lamented  by  the  venerators  of  ancestral  wisdom, 
much  as  the  abolition  of  the  sliding  scale  is  mourned  over  by 
a  certain  party  of  our  own  day.  Note  again  how,  under  the 
same  regime,  labourers  were  coerced  into  working  for  fixed 
wages ;  and  then  how,  to  keep  the  balance  even,  shopkeepers 
had  the  prices  of  provisions  dictated  to  them.  Mark,  further, 
that  when  the  most  tyrannical  of  these  ordinances  fell  into 
disuse,  there  still  continued  the  less  burdensome  ones ;  such 
as  those  usury  laws,  orders  to  farmers,  prescribing  of  the 
material  for  grave-clothes,  instructions  to  manufacturers,  tfec., 
referred  to  in  the  last  chapter.  But  without  going  into  fur- 


THE   REGULATION  OF  COMMERCE.  139 

ther  detail — without  enlarging  upon  the  fact  that  those  in- 
tolerable restraints  once  borne  by  the  manufacturing  classes 
of  France  were  contemporary  with  intense  despotism  at 
court,  and  a  still  lingering  feudalism  in  the  provinces — with- 
out tracing  the  parallelism  that  exists  between  the  political 
and  commercial  bondage  under  which,  in  spite  of  their  revolu- 
tions, the  French  still  live — without  pointing  out  at  length 
the  same  connexion  of  phenomena  in  Prussia,  in  Austria,  and 
in  other  similarly-ruled  countries — without  doing  all  this,  the 
evidence  adduced  sufficiently  shows  that  the  oppressiveness 
of  a  nation's  mercantile  laws  varies  as  the  oppressiveness  of 
its  general  arrangements  and  government. 

Many  much-reverenced  social  instrumentalities,  have  origi- 
nated in  the  primitive  necessity  of  ascribing  all  causation  to 
special  workers — the  inability  to  detach  the  idea  of  force 
from  an  individual  something.  Just  in  proportion  as  natural 
phenomena  are  regarded  by  any  people  as  of  personal  instead 
of  impersonal  origin,  will  the  phenomena  of  national  life  be 
similarly  construed ;  and,  indeed,  since  moral  sequences  are 
lesp  obvious  than  physical  ones,  they  will  be  thus  construed 
even  more  generally.  The  old  belief  that  a  king  could  fix 
the  value  of  coinage,  and  the  cry  raised  at  the  change  of  style 
— "  Give  us  our  eleven  days,"  obviously  implied  minds  in- 
capable of  conceiving  social  affairs  to  be  regulated  by  other 
than  visible,  tangible  agencies.  That  there  should  be  at 
work  some  unseen  but  universally-diffused  influences  deter- 
mining the  buyings  and  sellings  of  citizens  and  the  trans- 
actions of  merchants  from  abroad,  in  a  way  the  most 
advantageous  to  all  parties,  was  an  idea  as  foreign  to  such 
minds  as  was  that  of  uniform  physical  causation  to  the  primi- 
tive Greeks ;  and,  conversely,  as  the  primitive  Greeks  could 
understand  the  operations  of  Nature  being  performed  by  a 
number  of  presiding  individualities,  so,  to  the  people  of  the 
middle  ages,  it  was  comprehensible  that  a  proper  production 
and  distribution  of  commodities  could  be  ensured  by  acts  of 


140  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

Parliament  and  government  officials.  While  the  due  regu- 
lation of  trade  by  natural  indestructible  forces  was  inconceiv- 
able to  them,  they  could  conceive  trade  to  be  duly  regulated 
by  forces  resident  in  some  material  instrumentality  put  to- 
gether by  legislators,  clothed  in  the  robes  of  office,  painted  by 
court-flatterers,  and  decorated  with  "  jewels  five  wordb  long." 


RELIGIOUS  ESTABLISHMENTS. 

EVERY  State-church  is  essentially  popish.  We,  also,  have 
a  Vatican — St.  Stephen's.  It  is  true  that  our  arch-priest  is 
a  composite  one.  It  is  true  that  with  us  the  triple  tiara  is 
separated  into  its  parts — one  for  monarch,  one  for  peers,  and 
one  for  commons.  But  this  fact  makes  no  difference.  In 
substance,  popery  is  the  assumption  of  infallibility.  It  mat- 
ters not  in  principle  whether  this  assumption  is  made  by  one 
man  or  by  an  assembly  of  men.  No  doubt  the  astounding 
announcement — "  You  must  believe  what  we  say  is  right,  and 
not  what  you  think  is  right,"  comes  less  offensively  from  the 
lips  of  a  parliamentary  majority  than  from  those  of  a  single 
individual.  But  there  still  arises  the  question — By  what 
authority  do  these  men  assert  this  ? 

Before  State-paid  ministers  can  be  set  to  preach,  it  must 
first  be  decided  what  they  are  to  preach.  And  who  is  to  say  ? 
Clearly  the  State.  Either  it  must  itself  elaborate  a  creed,  or 
it  must  depute  some  man  or  men  to  do  so.  It  must  in  some 
way  sift  out  truth  from  error,  and  cannot  escape  the  respon- 
sibility attending  this.  If  it  undertakes  itself  to  settle  the 
doctrines  to  be  taught,  it  is  responsible.  If  it  adopts  a  ready- 
made  set  of  doctrines,  it  is  equally  responsible.  And  if  it 
selects  its  doctrines  by  proxy,  it  is  still  responsible  ;  both  as 
appointing  those  who  choose  for  it,  and  as  approving  their 
choice.  Hence,  to  say  that  a  government  ought  to  set  up  and 
maintain  a  system  of  religious  instruction,  is  to  say  that  it 

ought  to  pick  out  from  amongst  the  various  tenets  that  men 
10 


142  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

i 
hold  or  have  held,  those  which  are  right ;  and  that,  when  it 

has  done  this — when  it  has  settled  between  the  Roman 
Catholic,  the  Greek,  the  Lutheran,  and  the  Anglican  creeds, 
or  between  High  Church,  Broad  Church,  and  Evangelical 
ones — when  it  has  decided  whether  we  should  be  baptized 
during  infancy  or  at  a  mature  age,  whether  the  truth  is 
with  Trinitarians  or  Unitarians,  whether  men  are  saved  by 
faith  or  by  works,  whether  pagans  go  to  hell  or  not,  whether 
ministers  should  preach  in  black  or  white,  whether  confirma- 
tion is  scriptural,  whether  or  not  saints'  days  should  be  kept, 
and  (as  we  have  lately  seen  it  debating)  whether  baptism  does 
or  does  not  regenerate — when,  in  short,  it  has  settled  all  those 
controversies  which  have  split  mankind  into  innumerable 
sects,  it  ought  to  assert  that  its  judgment  is  beyond  appeal. 
There  is  no  alternative.  Unless  the  State  says  this,  it  convicts 
itself  of  the  most  absurd  inconsistency.  Only  on  the  sup- 
position of  infallibility  can  its  ecclesiastical  doings  be  made 
to  seem  tolerable.  How  else  shall  it  demand  rates  and  tithes 
of  the  dissenter  ?  "  Are  you  quite  sure  about  these  doctrines 
of  yours  ?  "  inquires  the  dissenter.  "  No,"  replies  the  State ; 
"  not  quite  sure,  but  nearly  so."  "  Then  it  is  just  possible 
you  may  be  wrong,  is  it  not  ? "  "  Yes."  "  And  it  is  just 
possible  that  I  may  be  right,  is  it  not  ? "  "  Yes."  "  Yet  you 
threaten  to  inflict  penalties  upon  me  for  nonconformity !  You 
seize  my  goods ;  you  imprison  me  if  I  resist ;  and  all  to  force 
from  me  the  means  to  preach  up  doctrines  which  you  admit 
may  be  false,  and,  by  implication,  to  preach  down  doctrines 
which  you  admit  may  be  true ! "  Evidently,  therefore,  if  the 
State  persists,  the  only  position  open  to  it  is  that  its  judg- 
ment ccvrwot  be  mistaken.  And  now  observe,  that  if  it  savs 

t/ 

this,  it  stands  committed  to  the  whole  Roman  Catholic  disci- 
pline as  well  as  to  its  theory.  It  is  bound  to  put  down  all 
adverse  teachers,  as  usurping  its  function  and  hindering  the 
reception  of  its  unquestionable  doctrine — is  bound  to  use  as 
much  force  as  may  be  needful  for  doing  this — is  bound, 
therefore,  to  imprison,  to  fine,  and,  if  necessary,  to  inflict 


RELIGIOUS  ESTABLISHMENTS.  143 

severer  penalties,  so  that  error  may  be  exterminated  and 
truth  be  triumphant.  If,  rather  than  punish  a  few  on  Earth, 
it  allows  many  to  be  eternally  damned  for  misbelief,  it  is 
manifestly  culpable.  Evidently  it  must  do  all,  or  it  must  do 
nothing.  If  it  does  not  claim  infallibility,  it  cannot  in  reason 
set  up  a  national  religion ;  and  if,  by  setting  up  a  national 
religion,  it  does  claim  infallibility,  it  ought  to  coerce  all  men 
into  the  belief  of  that  religion.  Thus,  as  we  said,  every  State- 
church  is  essentially  popish. 


POOK-LAWS. 

THE  notion  popularized  by  Cobbett,  that  every  one  has  a 
right  to  a  maintenance  out  of  the  soil,  leaves  those  who  adopt 
it  in  an  awkward  predicament.  Ask  for  some  precise  defini- 
tion of  the  right — inquire  "  What  is  a  maintenance  ? "  They 
are  dumb.  "  Is  it,"  say  you,  "  potatoes  and  salt,  with  rags 
and  a  mud  cabin  ?  or  is  it  bread  and  bacon,  in  a  two-roomed 
cottage  ?  Will  a  joint  on  Sundays  suffice  ?  or  does  the  de- 
mand include  meat  and  malt  liquor  daily  ?  Will  tea,  coffee, 
and  tobacco  be  expected  ?  and  if  so,  how  many  ounces  of 
each  ?  Are  bare  walls  and  brick  floors  all  that  is  needed  ?  or 
must  there  be  carpets  and  paper-hangings  ?  Are  shoes  con- 
sidered essential  ?  or  will  the  Scotch  practice  be  approved  ? 
Shall  the  clothing  be  of  fustian?  if  not,  of  what  quality 
must  the  broadcloth  be?  In  short,  just  point  out  where, 
between  the  two  extremes  of  starvation  and  luxury,  this 
something  called  a  maintenance  lies."  Again  they  are  dumb. 
There  is  no  possible  reply  for  them.  Opinions  they  may 
offer  in  plenty ;  but  not  a  precise  unanimous  answer.  One 
thinks  that  a  bare  subsistence  is  all  that  can  fairly  be  de- 
manded. Here  is  another  who  hints  at  something  beyond 
mere  necessaries.  And  some  of  the  more  consistent,  pushing 
the  doctrine  to  its  legitimate  result,  will  rest  satisfied  with 
nothing  short  of  community  of  property.  Who  now  shall 
decide  among  these  conflicting  notions  ? 

The  right  to  labour — that  French  translation  of  our  poor- 
law  doctrine — may  be  similarly  treated.  A  criticism  parallel 


POOR-LAWS.  145 

to  the  foregoing  would  place  its  advocates  in  a  parallel 
dilemma.  But  there  is  another  way  in  which  the  fallacy  of 
this  theory,  either  in  its  English  or  its  Continental  form,  may 
be  made  manifest. 

When  the  artizan  asserts  his  right  to  have  work  provided 
for  him,  he  presupposes  the  existence  of  some  power  on 
which  devolves  the  duty  of  providing  such  work.  What 
power  is  this  ?  The  government,  he  says.  But  the  govern- 
ment is  not  an  original  power,  it  is  a  deputed  one,  and  can 
be  held  responsible  for  nothing  save  the  performance  of  its 
employer's  behests.  Who  is  its  employer  ?  Society.  Strictly 
speaking,  therefore,  the  assertion  of  our  artizan  is,  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  society  to  find  work  for  him.  But  he  is  himself 
a  member  of  society,  and  has  hence  a  share  in  the  duty  of 
finding  work  for  every  man.  And  hence,  if  we  indicate  his 
fellows  alphabetically,  his  theory  is  that  A,  B,  C,  and  the  rest 
of  the  nation,  are  bound  to  find  work  for  him ;  that  he  is 
bound,  in  company  with  B,  C,  and  the  rest,  to  find  work  for 
A ;  that  he  is  bound,  in  company  with  A,  C,  and  the  rest,  to 
find  work  for  B  ;  and  so  on  with  each  individual  of  the  many 
millions,  of  whom  the  society  may  be  composed ! 

Most  of  the  objections  raised  by  the  dissenter  to  an  es- 
tablished religion  tell  with  equal  force  against  established 
charity.  He  asserts  that  it  is  unjust  to  tax  him  for  the  sup- 
port of  a  creed  he  does  not  believe.  May  not  another  as 
reasonably  protest  against  being  taxed  for  the  maintenance  of 
a  system  of  relief  he  disapproves  ?  He  denies  the  right  of 
any  bishop  or  council  to  choose  for  him  which  doctrine  he 
shall  accept  and  which  he  shall  reject.  Why  does  he  not 
also  deny  the  right  of  any  commissioner  or  vestry  to  choose 
for  him  who  are  worthy  of  his  charity  and  who  are  not  ?  If 
he  dissents  from  a  national  church  on  the  ground  that  religion 
will  be  more  general  and  more  sincere  when  voluntarily  sus- 
tained, should  he  not  similarly  dissent  from  a  poor-law  on 
the  ground  that  spontaneous  beneficence  will  produce  results 
both  wider  and  better  ?  Might  not  the  corruption  which  he 


146  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

points  out  as  neutralizing  the  effects  of  a  State-taught  creed, 
be  paralleled  by  those  evils  of  pauperism  accompanying  a 
State-provision  for  the  poor  ?  Whoso  believes  that  spiritual 
destitution  is  to  be  remedied  only  by  a  national  church,  may 
with  some  show  of  reason  propose  to  deal  with  physical 
destitution  by  an  analogous  instrumentality.  But  the  advo- 
cate of  voluntaryism  is  bound  to  stand  by  his  principle  in  the 
one  case  as  much  as  in  the  other.  , 

Whether  the  sufferings  of  the  unfortunate  shall  be  soothed 
in  obedience  to  the  gentle  whisperings  of  benevolence,  or 
whether  fear  of  the  harsh  threats  of  law  shall  be  the  motive 
for  relieving  them,  is  indeed  a  question  of  no  small  im- 
portance. In  deciding  how  misery  is  best  alleviated,  we  have 
to  consider,  not  only  what  is  done  for  the  afflicted,  but  what 
is  the  reactive  effect  upon  those  who  do  it.  The  relationship 
that  springs  up  between  benefactor  and  beneficiary  is,  for  this 
present  state  of  the  world,  a  refining  one.  The  emotion 
accompanying  every  generous  act  adds  an  atom  to  the  fabric 
of  the  ideal  man.  As  no  cruel  thing  can  be  done  without 
character  being  thrust  a  degree  back  towards  barbarism,  so  no 
kind  thing  can  be  done  without  character  being  moved  a 
degree  forward  towards  perfection.  Doubly  efficacious,  there- 
fore, are  all  assuagings  of  distress  instigated  by  sympathy ; 
for  not  only  do  they  remedy  the  particular  evils  to  be  met, 
but  they  help  to  mould  humanity  into  a  form  by  which  such 
evils  will  one  day  be  precluded. 

Far  otherwise  is  it  with  law-enforced  plans  of  relief.  These 
exercise  just  the  opposite  influence.  "  The  quality  of  mercy 
(or  pity)  is  not  strained,"  says  the  poet.  But  a  poor-law  tries 
to  make  men  pitiful  by  force.  'k  It  droppeth  as  the  gentle 
rain  from  heaven,"  continues  the  poet.  By  a  poor-law  it  is 
wrung  from  the  unwilling.  "  It  blesses  him  that  gives,  and 
him  that  takes,"  adds  the  poet.  A  poor-law  makes  it  curse 
both ;  the  one  with  discontent  and  recklessness,  the  other 
with  complainings  and  often-renewed  bitterness. 


POOR-LAWS.  147 

This  turning  of  balm  into  poison  must  have  been  remarked 
by  the  most  careless.  Watch  a  ratepayer  when  the  collector's 
name  is  announced.  You  will  observe  no  kindling  of  the 
eye  at  some  thought  of  happiness  to  be  conferred — no  relax- 
ing of  the  mouth  as  though  selfish  cares  had  for  the  moment 
been  forgotten — no  softening  of  the  voice  to  tell  of  compas- 
sionate emotion :  no,  none  of  these ;  but  rather  will  you  see 
contracted  features,  a  clouded  brow,  a  sudden  disappearance 
of  what  habitual  kindliness  of  expression  there  may  be.  The 
tax-paper  is  glanced  over  half  in  fear  and  half  in  vexation ; 
there  are  grumblings  about  the  short  time  that  has  elapsed 
since  the  last  rate.  The  purse  comes  slowly  from  the  pocket ; 
and  after  the  collector,  who  is  treated  with  bare  civility,  has 
made  his  exit,  some  little  time  passes  before  the  usual 
equanimity  is  regained.  Is  there  anything  in  this  to  remind 
us  of  the  virtue  which  is  "  twice  blessed  ? "  Note,  again,  how 
this  act-of-parliament  charity  perpetually  supersedes  men's 
better  sentiments.  Here  is  a  respectable  citizen  with  enough 
and  to  spare :  a  man  of  some  feeling ;  liberal,  if  there  is 
need ;  generous  even,  if  his  pity  is  excited.  A  beggar  knocks 
at  his  door ;  or  he  is  accosted  in  his  walk  by  some  way-worn 
tramp.  What  does  he  do  ?  Does  he  listen,  investigate,  and, 
if  proper,  assist  ?  No ;  he  commonly  cuts  short  the  tale  with 
— "  I  have  nothing  for  you,  my  good  man ;  you  must  go  to 
your  parish."  And  then  he  shuts  the  door,  or  walks  on,  as 
the  case  may  be,  with  evident  unconcern.  Thus  does  the 
consciousness  that  there  exists  a  legal  provision  for  the  indi- 
gent, act  as  an  opiate  to  the  yearnings  of  sympathy.  Had 
there  been  no  ready-made  excuse,  the  behaviour  would  prob- 
ably have  been  different.  Commiseration,  pleading  for  at 
least  an  inquiry  into  the  case,  would  most  likely  have  pre- 
vailed ;  and,  in  place  of  an  application  to  the  board  of 
guardians,  ending  in  a  pittance  coldly  handed  across  the  pay- 
table  to  be  thanklessly  received,  might  have  commenced  a 
relationship  good  for  both  parties — a  generosity  humanizing 
to  the  one,  and  a  succour  made  doubly  valuable  to  the  other 


148  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

by  a  few  words  of  consolation  and  encouragement,  fol- 
lowed, it  may  be,  by  a  lift  into  some  self-supporting  posi- 
tion. 

In  truth  there  could  hardly  be  found  a  more  efficient  de- 
vice for  decreasing  fellow-feeling,  than  this  system  of  State- 
almsgiving.  Being  kind  by  proxy ! — could  anything  be  more 
blighting  to  the  finer  instincts?  Here  is  an  institution 
through  which,  for  a  few  shillings  periodically  paid,  the  citi- 
zen may  compound  for  all  kindaess  owing  from  him  to  his 
poorer  brothers.  Is  he  troubled  with  twinges  of  conscience  ? 
here  is  an  anodyne  for  him,  to  be  had  by  subscribing  BO  much 
in  the  pound  on  his  rental.  Is  he  indifferent  as  to  the  welfare 
of  others  ?  why  then  in  return  for  punctual  payment  of  rates 
he  shall  have  absolution  for  hardness  of  heart.  Look  :  here 
is  the  advertisement.  "Gentlemen's  benevolence  done  for 
them,  in  the  most  business-like  manner,  and  on  the  lowest 
terms.  Charity  doled  out  by  a  patent  apparatus,  warranted 
to  save  all  soiling  of  fingers  and  offence  to  the  nose.  Good 
works  undertaken  by  contract.  Infallible  remedies  for  self- 
reproach  always  on  hand.  Tender  feelings  kept  easy  at  per 
annum." 

Thus  we  have  the  gentle,  softening,  elevating  inter- 
course that  should  be  habitually  taking  place  between  rich 
and  poor,  superseded  by  a  cold,  hard,  lifeless  mechanism, 
bound  together  by  dry  parchment  acts  and  regulations — 
managed  by  commissioners,  boards,  clerks,  and  collectors, 
who  perform  their  respective  functions  as  tasks — and  kept 
going  by  money  forcibly  taken  from  all  classes  indiscrimi- 
nately. In  place  of  the  music  breathed  by  feelings  attuned 
to  kind  deeds,  we  have  the  harsh  creaking  and  jarring  of 
a  thing  that  cannot  stir  without  creating  discord — a  thing 
whose  every  act,  from  the  gathering  of  its  funds  to  their  final 
distribution,  is  prolific  of  grumblings,  discontent,  anger — a 
thing  that  breeds  squabbles  about  authority,  disputes  as  to 
claims,  brow-beatings,  jealousies,  ligitations,  corruption,  trick- 
ery, lying,  ingratitude — a  thing  that  supplants,  and  there- 


POOR-LAWS.  14-9 

fore  makes  dormant,  men's  nobler  feelings,  while  it  stimu- 
lates their  baser  ones. 

And  now  mark  how  we  find  illustrated  in  detail  the  truth 
elsewhere  expressed  in  the  abstract,  that  whenever  a  govern- 
ment oversteps  its  duty — the  maintaining  of  men's  rights — it 
inevitably  retards  the  process  of  adaptation.  For  what  fac- 
ulty is  it  whose  work  a  poor-law  so  officiously  undertakes  ? 
Sympathy.  The  very  faculty  above  all  others  needing  to  be 
exercised.  The  faculty  which  distinguishes  the  social  man 
from  the  savage.  The  faculty  which  originates  the  idea 
of  justice  and  makes  men  regardful  of  one  another's  claims. 
Of  this  faculty  poor-laws  partially  supply  the  place.  By 
doing  which  they  diminish  the  demands  made  upon  it,  limit 
its  exercise,  check  its  development,  and  therefore  retard  the 
process  of  adaptation. 

Pervading  all  Nature  we  may  see  at  work  a  stern  disci- 
pline which  is  a  little  cruel  that  it  may  be  very  kind.  That 
state  of  universal  warfare  maintained  throughout  the  lower 
creation,  to  the  great  perplexity  of  many  worthy  people,  is  at 
bottom  the  most  merciful  provision  which  the  circumstances 
admit  of.  It  is  much  better  that  the  ruminant  animal,  when 
deprived  by  age  of  the  vigour  which  made  its  existence 
a  pleasure,  should  be  killed  by  some  beast  of  prey,  than  that 
it  should  linger  out  a  life  made  painful  by  infirmities,  and 
eventually  die  of  starvation.  By  the  destruction  of  all  such, 
not  only  is  existence  ended  before  it  becomes  burdensome,  but 
room  is  made  for  a  younger  generation  capable  of  the  fullest 
enjoyment ;  and,  moreover,  out  of  the  very  act  of  substitu- 
tion happiness  is  derived  for  a  tribe  of  predatory  creatures. 
Note,  further,  that  their  carnivorous  enemies  not  only  remove 
from  herbivorous  herds  individuals  past  their  prime,  but  also 
weed  out  the  sickly,  the  malformed,  and  the  least  fleet  or 
powerful.  By  the  aid  of  which  purifying  process,  as  well 
as  by  the  fighting  so  universal  in  the  pairing  season,  all  vitia- 
tion of  the  race  through  the  multiplication  of  its  inferior 


150  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

samples  is  prevented ;  and  the  maintenance  of  a  constitution 
completely  adapted  to  surrounding  conditions,  and  therefore 
most  productive  of  happiness,  is  ensured. 

The  development  of  the  higher  creation  is  a  progress 
towards  a  form  of  being,  capable  of  a  happiness  undiminished 
by  these  drawbacks.  It  is  in  the  human  race  that  the  con- 
summation is  to  be  accomplished.  Civilization  is  the  last 
stage  of  its  accomplishment.  And  the  ideal  man  is  the  man 
in  whom  all  the  conditions  to  that  accomplishment  are 
fulfilled.  Meanwhile,  the  well-being  of  existing  humanity 
and  the  unfolding  of  it  into  this  ultimate  perfection,  are  both 
secured  by  that  same  beneficial  though  severe  discipline,  to 
which  the  animate  creation  at  large  is  subject.  It  seems 
hard  that  an  unskilfulness  which  with  all  his  efforts  he 
cannot  overcome,  should  entail  hunger  upon  the  artizan.  It 
seem  hard  that  a  labourer  incapacitated  by  sickness  from 
competing  with  his  stronger  fellows,  should  have  to  bear  the 
resulting  privations.  It  seems  hard  that  widows  and  orphans 
should  be  left  to  struggle  for  life  or  death.  Nevertheless, 
when  regarded  not  separately  but  in  connexion  with  the 
interests  of  universal  humanity,  these  harsh  fatalities  are 
seen  to  be  full  of  beneficence — the  same  beneficence  which 
brings  to  early  graves  the  children  of  diseased  parents, 
and  singles  out  the  intemperate  and  the  debilitated  as  the 
victims  of  an  epidemic. 

There  are  many  very  amiable  people  who  have  not  the 
nerve  to  look  this  matter  fairly  in  the  face.  Disabled  as 
they  are  by  their  sympathies  with  present  suffering,  from 
duly  regarding  ultimate  consequences,  they  pursue  a  course 
which  is  injudicious,  and  in  the  end  even  cruel.  We  do 
not  consider  it  true  kindness  in  a  mother  to  gratify  her  child 
with  sweetmeats  that  are  likely  to  make  it  ill.  We  should 
think  it  a  very  foolish  sort  of  benevolence  which  led  a 
surgeon  to  let  his  patient's  disease  progress  to  a  fatal  issue, 
rather  than  inflict  pain  by  an  operation.  Similarly,  we  must 
call  those  spurious  philanthropists  who,  to  prevent  pres- 


POOR-LAWS.  151 

ent  misery,  would  entail  greater  misery  on  future  genera- 
tions. That  rigorous  necessity  which,  when  allowed  to  oper- 
ate, becomes  so  sharp  a  spur  to  the  lazy  and  so  strong  a  bridle 
to  the  random,  these  paupers'  friends  would  repeal,  because 
of  the  waitings  it  here  and  there  produces.  Blind  to  the  fact 
that  under  the  natural  order  of  things  society  is  constantly 
excreting  its  unhealthy,  imbecile,  slow,  vacillating,  faithless 
members,  these  unthinking,  though  well-meaning,  men  advo- 
cate an  interference  which  not  only  stops  the  purifying 
process,  but  even  increases  the  vitiation — absolutely  encour- 
ages the  multiplication  of  the  reckless  and  incompetent 
by  offering  them  an  unfailing  provision,  and  ^'scourages  the 
multiplication  of  the  competent  and  provident  by  heightening 
the  difficulty  of  maintaining  a  family.  And  thus,  in  their 
eagerness  to  prevent  the  salutary  sufferings  that  surround 
us,  these  sigh-wise  and  groan-foolish  people  bequeath  to 
posterity  a  continually  increasing  curse. 

Returning  again  to  the  highest  point  of  view,  we  find  that 
there  is  a  second  and  still  more  injurious  mode  in  which  law- 
enforced  charity  checks  the  process  of  adaptation.  To  be- 
come fit  for  the  social  state,  man  has  not  only  to  lose  his 
savageness  but  he  has  to  acquire  the  capacities  needful 
for  civilized  life.  Power  of  application  must  be  developed ; 
such  modification  of  the  intellect  as  shall  qualify  it  for  its 
new  tasks  must  take  place ;  and,  above  all,  there  must  be 
gained  the  ability  to  sacrifice  a  small  immediate  gratifica- 
tion for  a  future  great  one.  The  state  of  transition  will  of 
course  be  an  unhappy  state.  Misery  inevitably  results  from 
incongruity  between  constitution  and  conditions.  Humanity 
is  being  pressed  against  the  inexorable  necessities  of  its  new 
position — is  being  moulded  into  harmony  with  them,  and  has 
to  bear  the  resulting  unhappiness  as  best  it  can.  The  process 
must  be  undergone  and  the  sufferings  must  be  endured.  No 
power  on  Earth,  no  cunningly-devised  laws  of  statesmen,  no 
world-rectifying  schemes  of  the  humane,  no  communist  pan- 
aceas, no  reforms  that  men  ever  did  broach  or  ever  will 


152  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

broach,  can  diminish  them  one  jot.  Intensified  they  may  be, 
and  are ;  and  in  preventing  their  intensification  the  philan- 
thropic will  find  ample  scope  for  exertion.  But  there  is 
bound  up  with  the  change  a  normal  amount  of  suffering, 
which  cannot  be  lessened  without  altering  the  very  laws  of 
life.  Every  attempt  at  mitigation  of  this  eventuates  in 
exacerbation  of  it.  All  that  a  poor-law  or  any  kindred  insti- 
tution can  do,  is  to  partially  suspend  the  transition — to  take 
off  for  a  time,  from  certain  members  of  society,  the  painful 
pressure  which  is  effecting  their  transformation.  At  best 
this  is  merely  to  postpone  what  must  ultimately  be  borne. 
But  it  is  more  than  this :  it  is  to  undo  what  has  already  been 
done.  For  the  circumstances  to  which  adaptation  is  taking 
place  cannot  be  superseded  without  causing  a  retrogression  ; 
and  as  the  whole  process  must  some  time  or  other  be  passed 
through,  the  lost  ground  must  be  gone  over  again,  and  the 
attendant  pain  borne  afresh. 

At  first  sight  these  considerations  seem  conclusive  against 
all  relief  to  the  poor — voluntary  as  well  as  compulsory  ;  and 
it  is  no  doubt  true  that  they  imply  a  condemnation  of  what- 
ever private  charity  enables  the  recipients  to  elude  the  neces- 
sities of  our  social  existence.  With  this  condemnation,  how- 
ever, no  rational  man  will  quarrel.  That  careless  squander- 
ing of  pence  which  has  fostered  into  perfection  a  system  of 
organized  begging — which  has  made  skilful  mendicancy  more 
profitable  than  ordinary  manual  labour — which  induces  the 
simulation  of  diseases  and  deformities — which  has  called  into 
existence  warehouses  for  the  sale  and  hire  of  impostor's 
dresses — which  has  given  to  pity-inspiring  babes  a  market 
value  of  9d.  per  day — the  unthinking  benevolence  which  has 
generated  all  this,  cannot  but  be  disapproved  by  every  one. 
Now  it  is  only  against  this  injudicious  charity  that  the  fore- 
going argument  tells.  To  that  charity  which  may  be  de- 
scribed as  helping  men  to  help  themselves,  it  makes  no 
objection — countenances  it  rather.  And  in  helping  men  to 
help  themselves,  there  remains  abundant  scope  for  the  exer- 


POOR-LAWS.  153 

cise  of  a  people's  sympathies.  Accidents  will  still  supply 
victims  on  whom  generosity  may  be  legitimately  expended. 
Men  thrown  off  the  track  by  unforeseen  events,  men  who 
have  failed  for  want  of  knowledge  inaccessible  to  them,  men 
ruined  by  the  dishonesty  of  others,  and  men  in  whom  hope 
long  delayed  has  made  the  heart  sick,  may,  with  advantage 
to  all  parties,  be  assisted.  Even  the  prodigal,  after  severe 
hardship  has  branded  his  memory  with  the  unbending  con- 
ditions of  social  life  to  which  he  must  submit,  may  properly 
have  another  trial  afforded  him.  And,  although  by  these 
ameliorations  the  process  of  adaptation  must  be  remotely 
interfered  with,  yet,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  it  will  not  be  so 
much  retarded  in  one  direction  as  it  will  be  advanced  in 
another. 

Objectionable  as  we  find  a  poor-law  to  be,  even  under  the 
supposition  that  it  does  what  it  is  intended  to  do — diminish 
present  suffering — how  shall  we  regard  it  on  finding  that  in 
reality  it  does  no  such  thing — cannot  do  any  such  thing? 
Yet,  paradoxical  as  the  assertion  looks,  this  is  absolutely  the 
fact.  Let  but  the  observer  cease  to  contemplate  so  fixedly 
one  side  of  the  phenomenon — pauperism  and  its  relief,  and 
begin  to  examine  the  other  side — rates  and  the  ultimate  con- 
tributors of  them,  and  he  will  discover  that  to  suppose  the 
sum-total  of  distress  diminishable  by  act-of -parliament  bounty 
is  a  delusion. 

Here,  at  any  specified  period,  is  a  given  quantity  of  food 
and  things  exchangeable  for  food,  in  the  hands  or  at  the 
command  of  the  middle  and  upper  classes.  A  certain  portion 
of  this  food  is  needed  by  these  classes  themselves,  and  is  con- 
sumed by  them  at  the  same  rate,  or  very  near  it,  be  there 
scarcity  or  abundance.  Whatever  variation  occurs  in  the 
sum-total  of  food  and  its  equivalents,  must  therefore  affect 
the  remaining  portion,  not  used  by  these  classes  for  personal 
sustenance.  This  remaining  portion  is  paid  by  them  to  the 
people  in  return  for  their  labour,  which  is  partly  expended  in 


154  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

the  production  of  a  further  supply  of  necessaries,  and  partly 
in  the  production  of  luxuries.  Hence,  by  how  much  this 
portion  is  deficient,  by  so  much  must  the  people  come  short. 
A  re-distribntion  by  legislative  or  other  agency  cannot  make 
that  sufficient  for  them  which  was  previously  insufficient.  It 
can  do  nothing  but  change  the  parties  by  whom  the  in- 
sufficiency is  felt.  If  it  gives  enough  to  some  who  else  would 
not  have  enough,  it  must  inevitably  reduce  certain  others  to 
the  condition  of  not  having  enough. 

Should  there  be  any  to  whom  this  abstract  reasoning  is 
unsatisfactory,  a  concrete  statement  of  the  case  will,  perhaps, 
remove  their  doubts.  A  poors' -rate  collector  takes  from  the 
citizen  a  sum  of  money  equivalent  to  bread  and  clothing  for 
one  or  more  paupers.  Had  not  this  sum  been  so  taken,  it 
would  either  have  been  used  to  purchase  superfluities,  which 
the  citizen  now  does  without,  or  it  would  have  been  paid  by 
him  into  a  bank,  and  lent  by  the  banker  to  a  manufacturer, 
merchant,  or  tradesman  ;  that  is,  it  would  ultimately  have 
been  given  in  wages  either  to  the  producer  of  the  superfluities 
or  to  an  operative  paid  out  of  the  banker's  loan.  But  this 
sum  having  been  carried  off  as  poors' -rate,  whoever  would 
have  received  it  as  wages  must  now  to  that  extent  go  with- 
out wages.  The  food  which  it  represented  having  been  taken 
to  sustain  a  pauper,  the  artizan  to  whom  that  food  would 
have  been  given  in  return  for  work  done,  must  now  to  that 
extent  lack  food.  And  thus,  as  at  first  said,  the  transaction 
is  simply  a  change  of  the  parties  by  whom  the  insufficiency 
of  food  is  felt. 

Nay.  the  case  is  even  worse.  Already  it  has  been  pointed 
out  that,  by  suspending  the  process  of  adaptation,  a  poor-law 
increases  the  distress  to  be  borne  at  some  future  day ;  and 
here  we  shall  find  that  it  also  increases  the  distress  to  be 
borne  now.  For  be  it  remembered  that  of  the  sum  taken  in 
any  year  to  support  paupers,  a  large  portion  would  otherwise 
have  gone  to  support  labourers  employed  in  new  reproductive 
works — land-drainage,  machine-building,  &c.  An  additional 


POOR-LAWS.  155 

stock  of  commodities  would  by-and-by  have  been  produced, 
and  the  number  of  those  who  go  short  would  consequently 
have  been  diminished.  Thus  the  astonishment  expressed  by 
some  that  so  much  misery  should  exist,  notwithstanding  the 
distribution  of  fifteen  millions  a  year  by  endowed  charities, 
benevolent  societies,  and  poor-law  unions,  is  quite  uncalled 
for  ;  seeing  that  the  larger  the  sum  gratuitously  administered, 
the  more  intense  will  shortly  become  the  suffering.  Mani- 
festly, out  of  a  given  population,  the  greater  the  number 
living  on  the  bounty  of  others,  the  smaller  must  be  the 
number  living  by  labour ;  and  the  smaller  the  number  living 
by  labour,  the  smaller  must  be  the  production  of  food  and 
other  necessaries  ;  and  the  smaller  the  production  of  food  and 
other  necessaries,  the  greater  must  be  the  distress. 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION. 

IN  the  same  way  that  our  definition  of  State-duty  forbids 
the  State  to  administer  religion  or  charity,  so  likewise  does 
it  forbid  the  State  to  administer  education.  Inasmuch  as  the 
taking  away,  by  Government,  of  more  of  a  man's  property 
than  is  needful  for  maintaining  his  rights,  is  an  infringement 
of  his  rights,  and  therefore  a  reversal  of  the  Government's 
function  towards  him ;  and  inasmuch  as  the  taking  away  of 
his  property  to  educate  his  own  or  other  people's  children  is 
not  needful  for  the  maintaining  of  his  rights ;  the  taking 
away  of  his  property  for  such  a  purpose  is  wrong. 

Should  it  be  said  that  the  rights  of  the  children  are  in- 
volved, and  that  State-interposition  is  required  to  maintain 
these,  the  reply  is  that  no  cause  for  such  interposition  can  be 
shown  until  the  children's  rights  have  been  violated,  and 
that  their  rights  are  not  violated  by  a  neglect  of  their  educa- 
tion. For,  as  repeatedly  explained,  what  we  call  rights  are 
merely  arbitrary  subdivisions  of  the  general  liberty  to  exer- 
cise the  faculties ;  and  that  only  can  be  called  an  infringe- 
ment of  rights  which  actually  diminishes  this  liberty — cuts 
off  a  previously  existing  power  to  pursue  the  objects  of  desire. 
Now  the  parent  who  is  careless  of  a  child's  education  does 
not  do  this.  The  liberty  to  exercise  the  faculties  is  left 
intact.  Omitting  instruction  in  no  way  takes  from  a  child's 
freedom  to  do  whatsoever  it  wills  in  the  best  way  it  can  ;  and 
this  freedom  is  all  that  equity  demands.  Every  aggression, 
be  it  remembered — every  infraction  of  rights,  is  necessarily 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  157 

active;  whilst  every  neglect,  carelessness,  omission,  is  as 
necessarily  passive.  Consequently,  however  wrong  the  non- 
performance  of  a  parental  duty  may  be,  it  does  not  amount 
to  a  breach  of  the  law  of  equal  freedom,  and  cannot  therefore 
be  taken  cognizance  of  by  the  State. 

Were  there  no  direct  disproof  of  the  frequently-alleged 
right  to  education  at  the  hands  of  the  State,  the  absurdities 
in  which  it  entangles  its  assertors  would  sufficiently  show  its 
invalidity.  Conceding  for  a  moment  that  the  Government  is 
bound  to  educate  a  man's  children,  then,  what  kind  of  logic 
will  demonstrate  that  it  is  not  bound  to  feed  and  clothe 
them  \  If  there  should  be  an  act-of-parliament  provision  for 
the  development  of  their  minds,  why  should  there  not  be 
an  act-of-parliament  provision  for  the  development  of  their 
bodies  ?  The  reasoning  which  is  held  to  establish  the 
right  to  intellectual  food  will  equally  well  establish  the 
right  to  material  food :  nay,  will  do  more — will  prove 
that  children  should  be  altogether  cared  for  by  Govern- 
ment. For  if  the  benefit,  importance,  or  necessity,  of  educa- 
tion, be  assigned  as  a  sufficient  reason  why  Government 
should  educate, -then  may  the  benefit,  importance,  or  neces- 
sity, of  food,  clothing,  shelter,  and  warmth  be  assigned  as  a 
sufficient  reason  why  Government  should  administer  these 
also.  So  that  the  alleged  right  cannot  be  established  with- 
out annulling  all  parental  responsibility  whatever. 

Should  further  refutation  be  needful,  there  is  the  ordeal  of 
a  definition.  We  lately  found  this  ordeal  fatal  to  the  assumed 
right  to  a  maintenance ;  we  shall  find  it  equally  fatal  to  this 
assumed  right  to  an  education.  For  what  is  an  education  ? 
Where,  between  the  teaching  of  a  dame-school  and  the  most 
comprehensive  university  curriculum,  can  be  drawn  the  line 
separating  that  portion  of  mental  culture  which  may  be  justly 
claimed  of  the  State,  from  tha.t  which  may  not  be  so  claimed  ? 
What  peculiar  quality  is  there  in  reading,  writing,  and  arith- 
metic which  gives  the  embryo  citizen  the  right  to  have  them 
11 


158  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

imparted  to  him,  but  which  quality  is  not  shared  in  by 
geography,  and  history,  and  drawing,  and  the  natural  sci- 
ences ?  Must  calculation  be  taught  because  it  is  useful  ? 
why  so  is  geometry,  as  the  carpenter  and  mason  will  tell  us ; 
so  is  chemistry,  as  we  may  gather  from  dyers  and  bleachers. 
Where  is  the  unit  of  measure  by  which  we  may  determine 
the  respective  values  of  different  kinds  of  knowledge  ?  Or, 
assuming  them  determined,  how  can  it  be  shown  that  a  child 

o  * 

may  claim  from  the  civil  power  knowledge  of  such  and  such 
values,  but  not  knowledge  of  certain  less  values  ? 

A  sad  snare  would  these  advocates  of  legislative  teaching 
betray  themselves  into,  could  they  substantiate  their  doctrine. 
For  what  is  meant  by  saying  that  a  Government  ought  to 
educate  the  people  ?  Why  should  they  be  educated  ?  What 
is  the  education  for  ?  Clearly  to  fit  the  people  for  social  life 
— to  make  them  good  citizens.  And  who  is  to  say  what  are 
good  citizens  ?  The  Government :  there  is  no  other  judge. 
And  who  is  to  say  how  these  good  citizens  may  be  made  ? 
The  Government :  there  is  no  other  judge.  Hence  the  pro- 
position is  convertible  into  this — a  Government  ought  to 
mould  children  into  good  citizens,  using  its  own  discretion  in 
settling  what  a  good  citizen  is,  and  how  the  child  may  be 
moulded  into  one.  It  must  first  form  for  itself  a  definite 
conception  of  a  pattern  citizen  ;  and  having  done  this,  must 
elaborate  a  system  of  discipline  which  seems  best  calculated 
to  produce  citizens  after  that  pattern.  This  system  of  disci- 
pline it  is  bound  to  enforce  to  the  uttermost.  For  if  it  does 
otherwise,  it  allows  men  to  become  different  from  what  in  its 
judgment  they  should  become,  and  therefore  fails  in  that 
duty  it  is  charged  to  fulfil.  Being  thus  justified  in  carrying 
out  rigidly  such  plans  as  it  thinks  best,  every  Government 
ought  to  do  what  the  despotic  Governments  of  the  Continent 
and  of  China  do.  That  regulation  under  which,  in  France, 
"  private  schools  cannot  be  established  without  a  licence  from 
the  minister,  and  can  be  shut  up  by  a  simple  ministerial 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  159 

order,"  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  but  does  not  go  far 
enough ;  seeing  that  the  State  cannot  permit  its  mission  to 
be  undertaken  by  others,  without  endangering  the  due  per- 
formance of  it.  The  forbidding  of  all  private  schools  what- 
ever, as  until  recently  in  Prussia,  is  nearer  the  mark.  Aus- 
trian legislation,  too,  realizes  with  some  consistency  the 
State-education  theory.  By  it  a  tolerably  stringent  control 
over  the  mental  culture  of  the  nation  is  exercised.  Much 
thinking  being  held  at  variance  with  good  citizenship,  the 
teaching  of  metaphysics,  political  economy,  and  the  like,  is 
discouraged.  Some  scientific  works  are  prohibited.  And  a 
reward  is  offered  for  the  apprehension  of  those  who  circulate 
bibles — the  authorities  in  the  discharge  of  their  function  pre- 
ferring to  entrust  the  interpretation  of  that  book  to  their 
employes  the  Jesuits.  But  in  China  alone  is  the  idea  carried 
out  with  logical  completeness.  There  the  Government  pub- 
lishes a  list  of  works  which  may  be  read ;  and,  considering 
obedience  the  supreme  virtue,  authorizes  such  only  as  are 
friendly  to  despotism.  Fearing  the  unsettling  effects  of  inno- 
vation, it  allows  nothing  to  be  taught  but  what  proceeds 
from  itself.  To  the  end  of  producing  pattern-citizens  it 
exerts  a  stringent  discipline  over  all  conduct.  There  are 
"rules  for  sitting,  standing,  walking,  talking,  and  bowing, 
laid  down  with  the  greatest  precision.  Scholars  are  pro- 
hibited from  chess,  football,  flying  kites,  shuttlecock,  playing 
on  wind  instruments,  training  beasts,  birds,  fishes,  or  insects 
— all  which  amusements,  it  is  said,  dissipate  the  mind  and 
debase  the  heart." 

Now  a  minute  dictation  like  this,  which  extends  to  every 
action  and  will  brook  no  nay,  is  the  legitimate  realization 
of  this  State-education  theory.  "Whether  the  Government 
has  erroneous  conceptions  of  what  citizens  ought  to  be,  or 
whether  the  methods  of  training  it  adopts  are  injudicious, 
is  not  the  question.  According  to  the  hypothesis  it  is  com- 
missioned to  discharge  a  specified  function.  It  finds  no 
ready-prescribed  way  of  doing  this.  It  has  no  alternative, 


160  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

therefore,  but  to  choose  that  way  which  seems  to  it  most  fit. 
And  as  there  exists  no  higher  authority,  either  to  dispute  or 
confirm  its  judgment,  it  is  justified  in  the  absolute  enforce- 
ment of  its  plans,  be  they  what  they  may.  As  from  the  pro- 
position that  Government  ought  to  teach  religion,  there 
springs  the  other  proposition,  that  Government  must  decide 
what  is  religious  truth,  and  how  it  is  to  be  taught ;  so,  the 
assertion  that  Government  ought  to  educate,  necessitates  the 
further  assertion  that  it  must  say  what  education  is,  and  how 
it  shall  be  conducted.  And  the  same  rigid  popery,  which  we 
found  to  be  a  logical  consequence  in  the  one  case,  follows  in 
the  other  also. 

There  are  few  sayings  more  trite  than  this,  that  love  of 
offspring  is  one  of  our  most  powerful  passions.  To  become 
a  parent  is  an  almost  universal  wish.  The  intensity  of  affec- 
tion exhibited  in  the  glistening  eye,  the  warm  kiss,  and  the 
fondling  caress — in  the  untiring  patience,  and  the  ever  ready 
alarm  of  the  mother,  is  a  theme  on  which  philosophers  have 
written  and  poets  have  sung  in  all  ages.  Every  one  has 
remarked  how  commonly  the  feeling  overmasters  all  others. 
Observe  the  self-gratulation  with  which  maternity  witnesses 
her  first-born's  unparalleled  achievements.  Mark  the  pride 
with  which  the  performances  of  each  little  brat  are  exhibited 
to  every  visitor  as  indicating  a  precocious  genius.  Consider 
again  the  deep  interest  which  in  later  days  a  father  feels  in 
his  children's  mental  welfare,  and  the  anxiety  he  manifests 
to  get  them  on  in  life :  the  promptings  of  his  natural  affec- 
tion being  ofttimes  sharpened  by  the  reflection  that  the  com- 
fort of  his  old  age  may,  perchance,  be  dependent  upon  their 
success. 

Now,  "  servants  and  interpreters  of  nature  "  have  usually 
supposed  these  feelings  to  be  of  some  use.  Hitherto  they 
have  thought  that  the  gratification  a  mother  feels  from  the 
forwardness  of  her  little  ones  serves  as  an  educational  stimu- 
lus— that  the  honour  which  the  father  expects  to  derive  from 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  161 

the  distinction  of  his  sons  acts  as  an  incentive  to  their  im- 
provement— and  that  the  anticipation  by  parents  of  the  dis- 
tress which  ill-trained  children  may  one  day  entail  consti- 
tutes an  additional  spur  to  the  proper  management  of  them. 
It  would  appear,  however,  according  to  the  State-education- 
ists, that  they  have  been  mistaken.  It  seems  that  this  appa- 
ratus of  feelings  is  insufficient  to  do  the  needful  work.  And 
so,  in  default  of  any  natural  provision  for  supplying  the 
exigency,  legislators  exhibit  to  us  the  design  and  specification 
of  a  State-machine,  made  up  of  masters,  ushers,  inspectors, 
and  councils,  to  be  worked  by  a  due  proportion  of  taxes,  and 
to  be  plentifully  supplied  with  raw  material,  in  the  shape  of 
little  boys  and  girls,  out  of  which  it  is  to  grind  a  population 
of  well-trained  men  and  women. 

But  it  is  argued  that  parents,  and  especially  those  whose 
children  most  need  instructing,  do  not  know  what  good  in- 
struction is.  "  In  the  matter  of  education,"  says  Mr.  Mill, 
li  the  intervention  of  Government  is  justifiable  ;  because  the 
case  is  one  in  which  the  interest  and  judgment  of  the  con- 
sumer are  not  sufficient  security  for  the  goodness  of  the 
commodity." 

It  is  strange  that  so  judicious  a  writer  should  feel  satisfied 
with  such  a  worn-out  excuse.  This  alleged  incompetency  on 
the  part  of  the  people  has  been  the  reason  assigned  for  all 
State-interferences  whatever.  It  was  on  the  plea  that  buyers 
were  unable  to  tell  good  fabrics  from  bad,  that  those  compli- 
cated regulations  which  encumbered  the  French  manufact- 
urers were  established.  The  use  of  certain  dyes  here  in  Eng- 
land was  prohibited,  because  of  the  insufficient  discernment 
of  the  people.  Directions  for  the  proper  making  of  pins 
were  issued,  under  the  idea  that  experience  would  not  teach 
the  purchasers  which  were  best.  Those  examinations  as  to 
competency  which  the  German  handicraftsmen  undergo,  are 
held  needful  as  safeguards  to  the  consumers.  There  is  hardly 
a  single  department  of  life  over  which,  for  similar  reasons. 


162  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

legislative  supervision  has  not  been,  or  may  not  be,  estab- 
lished. Here  is  Mr.  H.  Hodson  Rugg,  M.R.C.S.,  publishing 
a  pamphlet  to  point  out  the  injury  inflicted  upon  poor  igno- 
rant householders  by  the  adulteration  of  milk,  and  proposing 
as  a  remedy  that  there  shall  be  Government  officers  to  test 
the  milk,  and  to  confiscate  it  when  not  good — police  to  in- 
spect the  ventilation  of  cow-sheds  and  to  order  away  invalid 
cattle — and  a  Government  cow-infirmary,  with  veterinary  sur- 
geon attached.  To-morrow  some  one  else  may  start  up  to 
tell  us  that  bad  bread  is  still  more  injurious  than  bad  milk, 
equally  common,  quite  as  difficult  to  distinguish,  and  that, 
consequently,  bakehouses  ought  to  be  overlooked  by  the  au- 
thorities. Next  there  will  be  wanted  officials  with  hydrome- 
ters and  chemical  re-agents,  to  dabble  in  the  vats  of  the  por- 
ter-breweries. In  the  wake  of  these  must,  of  course,  follow 
others,  commissioned  to  watch  the  doings  of  wine-merchants. 
And  so  on  until,  in  the  desire  to  have  all  processes  of  pro- 
duction duly  inspected,  we  approach  a  condition  somewhat 
like  that  of  the  slave-States,  in  which,  as  they  say,  "  one-half 
of  the  community  is  occupied  in  seeing  that  the  other  half 
does  its  duty."  And  for  each  additional  interference  the 
plea  may  be,  as  it  always  has  been,  that  "  the  interest  and 
judgment  of  the  consumer  are  not  sufficient  security  for  the 
goodness  of  the  commodity." 

Should  it  be  said  that  the  propriety  of  legislative  control 
depends  upon  circumstances;  that  respecting  some  articles 
the  judgment  of  consumers  is  sufficient,  while  respecting 
other  articles  it  is  not ;  and  that  the  difficulty  of  deciding 
upon  its  quality,  places  education  among  these  last ;  the  reply 
again  is,  that  the  same  has  been  said  on  behalf  of  all  med- 
dlings in  turn.  Plenty  of  trickeries,  plenty  of  difficulties  in 
the  detection  of  fraud,  plenty  of  instances  showing  the  in- 
ability of  purchasers  to  protect  themselves,  are  cited  by  the 
advocates  of  each  proposed  recourse  to  official  regulation; 
and  in  each  case  it  is  urged  that  here,  at  any  rate,  official 
regulation  is  required.  Yet  does  experience  disprove  these 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  163 

inferences  one  after  another,  teaching  us  that,  in  the  long 
run,  the  interest  of  the  consumer  is  not  only  an  efficient 
guarantee  for  the  goodness  of  the  things  consumed,  but  the 
best  guarantee.  Is  it  not  unwise,  then,  to  trust  for  the 
hundredth  time  in  one  of  these  plausible  but  deceptive  con- 
clusions ?  Is  it  not  wise,  rather,  to  infer  that  however  much 
appearances  are  to  the  contrary,  the  choice  of  the  commodity 
education,  like  the  choice  of  all  other  commodities,  may  be 
safely  left  to  the  discretion  of  buyers  ? 

Still  more  reasonable  will  this  inference  appear  on  observ- 
ing that  the  people  are  not,  after  all,  such  incompetent  judges 
of  education  as  they  seem.  Ignorant  parents  are  generally 
quick  enough  to  discern  the  effects  of  good  or  bad  teaching : 
will  note  them  in  the  children  of  others,  and  act  accordingly. 
Moreover  it  is  easy  for  them  to  follow  the  example  of  the 
better  instructed,  and  choose  the  same  schools.  Or  they  may 
get  over  the  difficulty  by  asking  advice ;  and  there  is  gener- 
ally some  one  both  able  and  willing  to  give  the  uneducated 
parent  a  trustworthy  answer  to  his  inquiry  about  teachers. 
Lastly,  there  is  the  test  of  price.  With  education,  as  with 
other  things,  price  is  a  tolerably  safe  index  of  value ;  it  is 
one  open  to  all  classes ;  and  it  is  one  which  the  poor  instinct- 
ively appeal  to  in  the  matter  of  schools ;  for  it  is  notorious 
that  they  look  coldly  at  very  cheap  or  gratuitous  instruc- 
tion. 

But  even  admitting  that  while  this  defect  of  judgment  is 
not  virtually  so  great  as  is  alleged,  it  nevertheless  exists,  the 
need  for  interference  is  still  denied.  The  evil  is  undergoing 
rectification,  as  all  analogous  ones  are  or  have  been.  The 
rising  generation  will  better  understand  what  good  education 
is  than  their  parents  do,  and  their  descendants  will  have 
clearer  conceptions  of  it  still.  Whoso  thinks  the  slowness  of 
the  process  a  sufficient  reason  for  meddling,  must,  to  be  con- 
sistent, meddle  in  all  other  things ;  for  the  ignorance  which 
in  every  case  serves  as  an  excuse  for  State-interposition  is  of 
very  gradual  cure.  The  errors  both  of  consumers  and  pro- 


164  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

ducers  often  take  generations  to  set  right.  Improvements  in 
the  carrying  on  of  commerce,  in  manufactures,  and  especially 
in  agriculture,  spread  almost  imperceptibly.  Take  rotation 
of  crops  for  an  example.  And  if  this  tardiness  is  a  valid 
argument  for  interference  in  one  case,  why  not  in  others  ? 
"Why  not  have  farms  superintended  by  Government,  because 
it  may  take  a  century  for  farmers  generally  to  adopt  the 
plans  suggested  by  modern  science  ? 

When,  in  the  matter  of  education,  "  the  interest  and  judg- 
ment of  the  consumer  "  are  said  not  to  be  "  sufficient  security 
for  the  goodness  of  the  commodity  ; "  and  when  it  is  argued 
that  Government  superintendence  is  therefore  needful ;  a  very 
questionable  assumption  is  made :  the  assumption,  namely, 
that  "  the  interest  and  judgment "  of  a  Government  a/re  suffi- 
cient security.  Now  there  is  good  reason  to  dispute  this; 
nay,  even  to  assert  that,  taking  the  future  into  account,  they 
offer  much  less  security. 

The  problem  is  how  best  to  develop  minds :  a  problem 
among  the  most  difficult — may  we  not  say,  the  most  diffi- 
cult? Two  things  are  needful  for  its  solution.  First,  to 
know  what  minds  should  be  fashioned  into.  Next,  to  know 
how  they  may  be  so  fashioned.  From  the  work  to  be  done, 
turn  we  now  to  the  proposed  doers  of  it.  Men  of  education 
(as  the  word  goes)  they  no  doubt  are ;  well-meaning,  many  of 
them ;  thoughtful,  some ;  philosophical,  a  few :  men,  however, 
for  the  most  part,  born  with  silver  spoons  in  their  mouths, 
and  prone  to  regard  human  affairs  as  reflected  in  these — 
somewhat  distortedly.  Yery  comfortable  lives  are  led  by  the 
majority  of  them,  and  hence  "  things  as  they  are  "  find  favour 
in  their  eyes.  For  their  tastes — they  are  shown  in  the  sub- 
ordination of  national  business  to  the  shooting  of  grouse  and 
the  chasing  of  foxes.  For  their  pride — it  is  in  wide  estates 
or  long  pedigrees ;  and  should  the  family  coat  of  arms  bear 
some  such  ancient  motto  as  "  Strike  hard,"  or  "  Furth  for- 
tune, and  fill  the  fetters,"  it  is  a  great  happiness.  As  to  their 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  165 

ideal  of  society — it  is  either  a  sentimental  feudalism ;  or  it 
is  a  state  under  which  the  people  shall  behave  "  lowly  and 
reverently  to  all  their  betters "  and  "  do  their  duty  in  that 
state  of  life  unto  which  it  shall  please  God  to  call  them  ; "  or 
it  is  a  state  arranged  with  the  view  of  making  each  labourer 
the  most  efficient  producing  tool,  to  the  end  that  the  ac- 
cumulation of  wealth  may  be  the  greatest  possible.  Add 
to  this,  that  their  notions  of .  moral  discipline  are  shown 
in  the  sending  of  their  sons  to  schools  where  -  fagging 
and  flogging  are  practised,  and  where  they  themselves 
were  brought  up.  Now  can  the  "judgment"  of  such  re- 
specting the  commodity  education,  be  safely  relied  on  ?  Cer- 
tainly not. 

Thus,  even  were  it  true  that  in  the  matter  of  education 
"  the  interest  and  judgment  of  the  consumer  are  not  sufficient 
security  for  the  goodness  of  the  commodity,"  the  wisdom  of 
superseding  them  by  the  "  interest  and  judgment "  of  a  Gov- 
ernment is  by  no  means  obvious.  It  may,  indeed,  be  said 
that  the  argument  proves  only  the  unfitness  of  existing  Gov- 
ernments to  become  national  teachers,  and  not  the  unfitness 
of  a  Government  normally  constituted ;  whereas  the  object 
of  inquiry  being  to  determine  what  a  Government  should 
do,  the  hypothesis  must  be  that  the  Government  is  what  it 
should  be.  To  this  the  reply  is,  that  the  nature  of  the  alle- 
gation to  be  met  necessitates  a  descent  to  the  level  of  present 
circumstances.  It  is  on  the  defective  "interest  and  judg- 
ment "  of  the  people,  as  they  now  are,  that  the  plea  for  legis- 
lative superintendence  is  based ;  and,  consequently,  in  criti- 
cizing this  plea  we  must  take  Government  as  it  now  is.  We 
cannot  reason  as  though  Government  were  what  it  should 
be  ;  since,  before  it  can  become  such,  any  alleged  deficiency 
of  "  interest  and  judgment "  on  the  part  of  the  people  must 
have  disappeared. 

The  impolicy  of  setting  up  a  national  organization  for 
cultivating  the  popular  mind,  and  commissioning  the  Gov- 


166  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

ernment  to  superintend  this  organization,  is  further  seen  in 
the  general  truth  that  every  such  organization  is  in  spirit 
conservative,  and  not  progressive.  All  institutions  have  an 
instinct  of  self-preservation  growing  out  of  the  selfishness  of 
those  connected  with  them.  Their  roots  are  in  the  past  and 
the  present ;  never  in  the  future.  Change  threatens  them, 
modifies  them,  eventually  destroys  them.  Hence  to  change 
they  are  uniformly  opposed.  On  the  other  hand,  education, 
properly  so  called,  is  closely  associated  with  change — is  al- 
ways fitting  men  for  higher  things,  and  unfitting  them  for 
things  as  they  are.  Therefore,  between  institutions  whose 
existence  depends  upon  man  continuing  what  he  is,  and  true 
education,  which  is  one  of  the  instruments  for  making  him 
something  other  than  he  is,  there  must  always  be  en- 
mity. 

From  the  time  of  the  Egyptian  priesthood  downwards, 
the  conduct  of  corporations,  whether  political,  ecclesiastical, 
or  educational,  has  given  proof  of  this.  Some  300  years 
B.  c.,  unlicensed  schools  were  forbidden  by  the  Athenian 
senate.  In  Rome,  the  liberty  of  teaching  was  attacked  twice 
before  the  Christian  era;  and  again,  afterwards,  by  the 
Emperor  Julian.  The  existing  Continental  Governments 
show,  by  their  analogous  policy,  how  persistent  the  tendency 
is.  In  the  universality  of  censorships  we  see  the  same  fact 
further  illustrated.  The  celebrated  saying  of  the  Empress 
Catharine  to  her  prime  minister,  well  exhibits  the  way  in 
which  rulers  regard  the  spread  of  knowledge.  And  when- 
ever Governments  have  undertaken  to  educate,  it  has  been 
with  the  view  of  forestalling  that  spontaneous  education 
which  threatened  their  own  supremacy.  Witness  the  case  of 
China,  where  diligently-impressed  ideas,  such  as — "  O !  how 
magnificent  are  the  affairs  of  Government!"  "O!  what 
respect  is  due  to  the  officers  of  Government ! "  sufficiently  in- 
dicate the  intention.  Witness,  again,  the  case  of  Austria, 
where,  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  Emperor  Francis, 
die  training  of  the  popular  miud  was  entrusted  to  the  Jesuits, 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  167 

that  they  might  "  counteract  the  propagandism  of  liberty,  by 
the  propagandism  of  superstition."  Nor  have  there  been 
wanting  signs  of  a  like  spirit  here  in  England.  The  attempt 
in  Cobbett's  day  to  put  down  cheap  literature,  by  an  Act  which 
prevented  weekly  publications  from  being  sold  for  less  than 
sixpence,  unmistakably  indicated  it.  It  was  again  exhibited 
in  the  reluctance  with  which  the  newspaper  stamp-duty  was 
reduced,  when  resistance  had  become  useless.  And  we  may 
still  see  it  in  the  double-facedness  of  a  legislature  which  pro- 
fesses to  favour  popular  enlightenment,  and  yet  continues  to 
raise  a  million  and  a  quarter  sterling  yearly  from  "taxes  on 
knowledge." 

How  unfriendly  all  ecclesiastical  bodies  have  been  to  the 
spread  of  education  every  one  knows.  The  obstinacy  shown 
by  the  Brahmin  in  fighting  against  the  truths  of  modern 
science — the  fanaticism  with  which  the  Mahometan  doctor 
ignores  all  books  but  the  Koran — the  prejudice  fostered  by 
the  religious  institutions  of  our  own  country  against  the  very 
name  of  philosophy  ;  are  kindred  illustrations  of  the  conduct 
which  this  self-conserving  instinct  produces.  In  that  saying 
of  the  monks — "  We  must  put  down  printing  or  printing 
will  put  down  us,"  the  universal  motive  was  plainly  expressed ; 
as  it  was,  again,  through  the  mouth  of  that  French  bishop 
who  denounced  the  Bell  and  Lancaster  systems  as  inventions 
of  the  devil.  Nor  let  any  one  conclude  that  the  educational 
zeal  latterly  manifested  by  Church-clergy  indicates  a  new 
animus.  Those  who  remember  the  bitterness  with  which 
Sunday  schools  were  at  first  assailed  by  them,  and  those  who 
mark  how  keenly  they  now  compete  with  Dissenters  for  the 
children  of  the  poor,  can  see  clearly  enough  *Jiat  they  are  en- 
deavouring to  make  the  best  of  a  necessity — that,  having  a 
more  or  less  defined  consciousness  that  educational  progress 
is  inevitable,  they  wish  to  educate  the  people  in  allegiance  to 
the  Church. 

Still  more  manifest  becomes  this  obstructive  tendency  on 
considering  that  the  very  organizations  devised  for  the  spread- 


168  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

ing  of  knowledge,  may  themselves  act  as  suppressors  of  it 
Thus  it  is  said  that  Oxford  was  one  of  the  last  places  in 
which  the  Newtonian  philosophy  was  acknowledged.  We 
read  again,  in  the  life  of  Locke,  that  "  there  was  a  meeting 
of  the  heads  of  houses  at  Oxford,  where  it  was  proposed  to 
censure  and  discourage  the  reading  of  this  essay  (On  the 
Human  Understanding) ;  and,  after  various  debates,  it  was 
concluded  that  without  any  public  censure  each  head  of  a 
house  shall  endeavour  to  prevent  its  being  read  in  his  own 
college."  At  Eton,  too,  in  Shelley's  time,  "  Chemistry  was  a 
forbidden  thing,"  even  to  the  banishment  of  chemical  trea- 
tises. So  uniformly  has  it  been  the  habit  of  these  endowed 
institutions  to  close  the  door  against  innovations,  that  they 
are  among  the  last  places  to  which  any  one  looks  for  improve- 
ments in  the  art  of  teaching,  or  a  better  choice  of  subjects 
to  be  taught.  The  attitude  of  the  universities  towards  con- 
crete science  has  been  that  of  contemptuous  non-recognition. 
College  authorities  have  long  resisted,  either  actively  or  pas- 
sively, the  making  of  physiology,  chemistry,  geology,  &c., 
subjects  of  examination;  and  only  of  late,  under  pressure 
from  without,  and  under  the  fear  of  being  supplanted  by 
rival  institutions,  have  new  studies  been  reluctantly  taken  to 
in  small  measure. 

Now  although  inertia  may  be  very  useful  in  its  place — 
although  the  resistance  of  office-holders  has  its  function — al- 
though we  must  not  quarrel  with  this  instinct  of  self-preser- 
vation which  gives  to  institutions  their  vitality,  because  it 
also  upholds  them  through  a  lingering  decrepitude ;  we  may 
yet  wisely  refuse  to  increase  its  natural  effect.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  have  in  our  social  economy  a  conservative  force  as 
well  as  a  reforming  one,  that  there  may  be  progress  for  the 
resultant;  but  it  is  impolitic  to  afford  the  one  an  artificial 
advantage  over  the  other.  To  establish  a  State-education  is 
to  do  this,  however.  The  teaching  organization  itself,  and 
the  Government  which  directs  it,  will  inevitably  lean  to 
things  as  they  are ;  and  to  give  them  control  over  the  na- 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  169 

tional  mind,  is  to  give  them  the  means  of  repressing  aspira- 
tions after  things  as  they  should  be. 

Did  the  reader  ever  watch  a  boy  in  the  first  heat  of  a 
gardening  tit  ?  The  sight  is  amusing,  and  not  uninstructive. 
Probably  a  slice  of  a  border — some  couple  of  square  yards  or 
so — has  been  made  over  to  him  for  his  exclusive  use.  No 
small  accession  of  dignity,  and  not  a  little  pride  of  proprie- 
torship, does  he  exhibit.  So  long  as  the  enthusiasm  lasts,  he 
never  tires  of  contemplating  his  territory ;  and  every  com- 
panion, and  every  visitor  with  whom  the  liberty  can  be  taken, 
is  pretty  sure  to  be  met  with  the  request — "  Come  and  see 
my  garden."  Note  chiefly,  however,  with  what  anxiety  the 
growth  of  a  few  scrubby  plants  is  regarded.  Three  or  four 
times  a  day  will  the  little  urchin  rush  out  to  look  at  them. 
How  provokingly  slow  their  progress  seems  to  him.  Each 
morning  on  getting  up  he  hopes  to  find  some  marked  change  ; 
and  lo,  everything  appears  just  as  it  did  the  day  before. 
When  will  the  blossoms  come  out !  For  nearly  a  week  has 
some  forward  bud  been  promising  him  the  triumph  of  a  first 
flower,  and  still  it  remains  closed.  Surely  there  must  be 
something  wrong!  Perhaps  the  leaves  have  stuck  fast. 
Ah !  that  is  the  reason,  no  doubt.  And  so  ten  to  one  you 
will  some  day  catch  our  young  florist  busily  engaged  in  pull- 
ing open  the  calyx,  and,  it  may  be,  trying  to  unfold  a  few  of 
the  petals. 

Somewhat  like  this  childish  impatience  is  the  feeling  ex- 
hibited by  not  a  few  State-educationists.  Both  they  and 
their  type  show  a  lack  of  faith  in  natural  forces — almost  an 
ignorance  that  there  are  such  forces.  In  both  there  is  the 
same  dissatisfaction  with  the  normal  rate  of  progress.  And 
by  both,  artificial  means  are  used  to  remedy  what  are  con- 
ceived to  be  Nature's  failures.  Within  these  few  years  men 
have  been  awakened  to  the  importance  of  instructing  the 
people.  That  to  which  they  were  awhile  since  indifferent, 
or  even  hostile,  has  suddenly  become  an  object  of  enthusiasm. 


170  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

With  all  the  ardour  of  recent  converts — with  all  a  novice's 
inordinate  expectations — with  all  the  eagerness  of  a  lately- 
aroused  desire — do  they  await  the  hoped-for  result ;  and  are 
dissatisfied  because  the  progress  from  general  ignorance  to 
universal  culture  has  not  been  achieved  in  a  generation.  One 
would  have  thought  it  sufficiently  clear  to  everybody  that  the 
great  changes  taking  place  in  this  world  of  ours  are  uni- 
formly slow.  Continents  are  upheaved  at  the  rate  of  a  foot 
or  two  in  a  century.  The  deposition  of  a  delta  is  the  work 
of  tens  of  thousands  of  years.  The  transformation  of  barren 
rock  into  life-supporting  soil  takes  countless  ages.  If  any 
think  society  advances  under  a  different  law,  let  them  read. 
Did  it  not  require  nearly  the  whole  Christian  era  to  abolish 
slavery  and  serfdom  in  Europe  ?  Did  not  a  hundred  gen- 
erations live  and  die  while  picture-writing  grew  into  print- 
ing ?  Have  not  science  and  commerce  and  mechanical  skill 
increased  at  a  similarly  tardy  pace?  Yet  are  men  disap- 
pointed that  a  pitiful  fifty  years  has  not  sufficed  for  popular 
enlightenment !  Although  within  this  period  an  advance  has 
been  made  far  beyond  what  the  calm  thinker  would  have  ex- 
pected— far  beyond  what  the  past  rate  of  progress  in  human 
affairs  seemed  to  prophesy;  yet  do  these  impatient  people 
condemn  the  voluntary  system  as  a  failure !  A  natural  pro- 
cess— a  process  of  self-unfolding  which  the  national  mind 
had  commenced,  is  pooh-poohed  because  it  has  not  wrought 
a  transformation  in  the  course  of  what  constitutes  but  a  day 
in  the  life  of  humanity !  And  then,  to  make  up  for  Nature's 
incompetence,  the  unfolding  must  be  hastened  by  legislative 
fingerings ! 

There  is,  indeed,  one  excuse  for  attempts  to  spread  edu- 
cation by  artificial  means,  namely,  the  anxiety  to  diminish 
crime,  of  which  education  is  supposed  to  be  a  preventive. 
"  We  hold,"  says  Mr.  Macaulay,  "  that  whoever  has  the  right 
to  hang  has  the  right  to  educate."  *  And  in  a  letter  relative 

*  Quoted  from  a  speech  at  Edinburgh. 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION. 

to  the  Manchester  district-system,  Miss  Martineau  writes — 
"  Nor  can  I  see  that  political  economy  objects  to  the  general 
rating  for  educational  purposes.  As  a  mere  police-tax  this 
rating  would  be  a  very  cheap  affair.  It  would  cost  us  much 
less  than  we  now  pay  for  juvenile  depravity." 

Now,  the  truth  of  these  assumptions  may  be  disputed.  We 
have  no  evidence  that  education,  as  commonly  understood,  is 
a  preventive  of  crime.  Those  perpetually  re-iterated  news- 
paper paragraphs,  in  which  the  ratios  of  instructed  to  un- 
instructed  convicts  are  so  triumphantly  stated,  prove  just 
nothing.  Before  any  inference  can  be  drawn,  it  must  be 
shown  that  these  instructed  and  uninstructed  convicts,  come 
from  two  equal  sections  of  society,  alike  in  all  other  respects 
but  that  of  knowledge — similar  in  rank  and  occupation, 
having  similar  advantages,  labouring  under  similar  tempta- 
tions. But  this  is  not  only  not  the  truth  ;  it  is  nothing  like 
the  truth.  The  many  ignorant  criminals  belong  to  a  most 
unfavourably  circumstanced  class ;  while  the  few  educated 
ones  are  from  a  class  comparatively  favoured.  As  things 
stand  it  would  be  equally  logical  to  infer  that  crime  arises 
from  living  in  badly-ventilated  rooms,  or  from  wearing  dirty 
shirts ;  for  were  the  inmates  of  a  gaol  to  be  catechised,  it 
would  be  found  that  the  majority  of  them  had  been  placed 
in  these  conditions.  Ignorance  and  crime  are  not  cause  and 
effect ;  they  are  concomitant  results  of  the  same  cause.  To 
be  wholly  untaught  is  to  have  moved  among  those  whose  in- 
centives to  wrong-doing  are  strongest ;  to  be  partially  taught 
is  to  have  been  one  of  a  class  subject  to  less  urgent  tempta- 
tions ;  to  be  well  taught  is  to  have  lived  almost  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  usual  motives  for  transgression.  Ignorance, 
therefore  (at  least  in  the  statistics  referred  to),  simply  indi- 
cates the  presence  of  crime-producing  influences,  and  can  no 
more  be  called  the  cause  of  crime  than  the  falling  of  a  ba- 
rometer can  be  called  the  cause  of  rain. 

So  far,  indeed,  from  proving  that  morality  is  increased  by 
education,  the  facts  prove,  if  anything,  the  reverse.  Thus 


172  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

we  are  told,  in  a  report  by  the  Kev.  Joseph  Kingsmill,  head 
chaplain  of  Pentonville  Prison,  that  the  proportion  borne  by 
the  educated  to  the  uneducated  convicts  is  fully  as  high  as 
that  which  exists  between  the  educated  and  the  uneducated 
classes  in  the  general  population ;  although,  as  just  explained, 
we  might  reasonably  expect  that,  having  had  fewer  tempta- 
tions, the  educated  convicts  would  bear  a  smaller  ratio  to 
their  class.  Again,  it  has  been  shown  from  Government 
returns — "That  the  number  of  juvenile  offenders  in  the 
Metropolis  has  been  steadily  increasing  every  year  since  the 
institution  of  the  Kagged  School  Union ;  and  that  whereas 
the  number  of  criminals  who  cannot  read  and  write  has  de- 
creased from  24,856  (in  1844)  to  22,968  (in  1848)— or  no 
less  than  1888  in  that  period — the  number  of  those  who  can 
read  and  write  imperfectly  has  increased  from  33,337  to 
36,229— or  2892 — in  the  same  time." — Morning  Chronicle, 
April  25,  1850.  Another  contributor  to  the  series  of  articles 
on  "  Labour  and  the  Poor,"  from  which  the  above  statement 
is  quoted,  remarks  that  "the  mining  population  (in  the 
North)  are  exceedingly  low  in  point  of  education  and  intelli- 
gence ;  and  yet  they  contradict  the  theories  generally  enter- 
tained upon  the  connexion  of  ignorance  with  crime,  by  pre- 
senting the  least  criminal  section  of  the  population  of  Eng- 
land."— Morning  Chronicle,  Dec.  27,  1849.  And,  speaking 
of  the  women  employed  in  the  iron-works  and  collieries 
throughout  South  Wales,  he  says — "  their  ignorance  is  abso- 
lutely awful ;  yet  the  returns  show  in  them  a  singular  immu- 
nity from  crime." — Morning  Chronicle,  March  21,  1850. 

If  these  testimonies  are  thought  insufficient,  they  may  be 
enforced  by  that  of  Mr.  Fletcher,  who  has  entered  more 
elaborately  into  this  question  than  perhaps  any  other  writer 
of  the  day.  Summing  up  the  results  of  his  investigations, 
he  says : — 

•/ 

"  1.  In  comparing  the  gross  commitments  for  criminal 
offences  with  the  proportion  of  instruction  in  each  district, 
there  is  found  to  .be  a  small  balance  in  favour  of  the  most 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  173 

instructed  districts  in  the  years  of  most  industrial  depression 
(1842-3-4),  but  a  greater  one  against  them  in  the  years  of 
less  industrial  depression  (1845-6-7) ;  while  in  comparing 
the  more  with  the  less  instructed  portions  of  each  district, 
the  final  result  is  against  the  former  at  both  periods,  though 
fourfold  at  the  latter  what  it  is  at  the  former. 

"  2.  ]STo  correction  for  the  ages  of  the  population  in  differ- 
ent districts,  to  meet  the  excess  of  criminals  at  certain  younger 
periods  of  life,  will  change  the  character  of  this  superficial 
evidence  against  instruction ;  every  legitimate  allowance  of 
the  kind  having  already  been  made  in  arriving  at  these  re- 
sults. 

"  3.  Down  to  this  period,  therefore,  the  comparison  of  the 
criminal  and  educational  returns  of  this,  any  more  than  of 
any  other  country  of  Europe,  has  afforded  no  sound  statis- 
tical evidence  in  favour,  and  as  little  against,  the  moral  effects 
associated  with  instruction,  as  actually  disseminated  among 
the  people."  * 

The  fact  is,  that  scarcely  any  connexion  exists  between 
morality  and  the  discipline  of  ordinary  teaching.  Mere  cult- 
ure of  the  intellect  (and  education  as  usually  conducted 
amounts  to  little  more)  is  hardly  at  all  operative  upon  con- 
duct. Creeds  pasted  upon  the  mind,  good  principles  learnt 
by  rote,  lessons  in  right  and  wrong,  will  not  eradicate  vicious 
propensities ;  though  people,  in  spite  of  their  experience  as 
parents  and  as  citizens,  persist  in  hoping  they  will.  Intellect 
is  not  a  power  but  an  instrument — not  a  thing  which  itself 
moves  and  works,  but  a  thing  which  is  moved  and  worked  by 
forces  behind  it.  To  say  that  men  are  ruled  by  reason,  is  as 
irrational  as  to  say  that  men  are  ruled  by  their  eyes.  Reason 
is  an  eye — the  eye  through  which  the  desires  see  their  way  to 
gratification.  And  educating  it  only  makes  it  a  better  eye — 
gives  it  a  vision  more  accurate  and  more  comprehensive — 

*  Summary  of  the  Moral  Statistics  of  England  and  Wales,  1849.  By 
Joseph  Fletcher,  Esq.,  Barrister-at-Law,  one  of  Her  Majesty's  Inspectors 
of  Schools. 

12 


174  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

does  not  at  all  alter  the  desires  subserved  by  it.  However 
far-seeing  you  make  it,  the  passions  will  still  determine  the 
directions  in  which  it  shall  *be  turned — the  objects  on  which 
it  shall  dwell.  Just  those  ends  which  the  instincts  or  senti- 
ments propose,  will  the  intellect  be  employed  to  accomplish  : 
culture  of  it  having  done  nothing  but  increase  the  ability  to 
accomplish  them.  Probably  some  will  urge  that  enlightening 
men  enables  them  to  discern  the  penalties  which  naturally 
attach  to  wrong-doing ;  and  in  a  certain  sense  this  is  true. 
But  it  is  only  superficially  true.  Though  they  may  learn 
that  the  grosser  crimes  commonly  bring  retribution  in  one 
shape  or  other,  they  will  not  learn  that  the  subtler  ones  do. 
Their  sins  will  merely  be  made  more  Machiavellian.  If,  as 
Coleridge  says,  "  a  knave  is  a  fool  with  a  circumbendibus," 
then,  by  instructing  the  knave,  you  do  but  make  the  circum- 
bendibus a  wider  one.  Did  much  knowledge  and  piercing 
intelligence  suffice  to  make  men  good,  then  Bacon  should 
have,  been  honest,  and  Napoleon  should  have  been  just. 
Where  the  character  is  defective,  intellect,  no  matter  how 
high,  fails  to  regulate  rightly,  because  predominant  desires 
falsify  its  estimates.  Nay,  even  a  distinct  foresight  of  evil 
consequences  will  not  restrain  when  strong  passions  are  at 
work.  How  else  does  it  happen  that  men  will  get  drunk, 
though  they  know  drunkenness  will  entail  on  them  suffering 
and  disgrace,  and  (as  with  the  poor)  even  starvation  ?  How 
else  is  it  that  medical  students,  who  know  the  diseases 
brought  on  by  dissolute  living  better  than  other  young  men, 
are  just  as  reckless,  and  even  more  reckless  ?  How  else  is  it 
that  the  London  thief,  who  has  been  at  the  treadmill  a  dozen 
times,  will  steal  again  as  soon  as  he  is  at  liberty  ? 

It  is,  indeed,  strange  that  with  the  facts  of  daily  life  be- 
fore them  in  the  street,  in  the  counting-house,  and  in  the 
family,  thinking  men  should  still  expect  education  to  cure 
crime.  If  armies  of  teachers,  regarded  with  a  certain  super- 
stitious reverence,  have  been  unable  to  purify  society  in  all 
these  eighteen  centuries,  it  is  hardly  likely  that  other  armies 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  1Y5 

of  teachers,  not  so  regarded,  will  be  able  to  do  it.  If  natural 
persuasion,  backed  by  supernatural  authority,  will  not  induce 
men  to  do  as  they  would  be  done  by,  it  is  hardly  likely  that 
natural  persuasion  alone  will  induce  them.  If  hopes  of  eter- 
nal happiness  and  terrors  of  eternal  damnation  fail  to  make 
human  beings  virtuous,  it  is  hardly  likely  that  the  commen- 
dations and  reproofs  of  the  schoolmaster  will  succeed. 

There  is,  in  fact,  a  quite  sufficient  reason  for  failure — no 
less  a  reason  than  the  impossibility  of  the  task.  The  expec- 
tation that  crime  may  presently  be  cured,  whether  by  State- 
education,  or  the  silent  system,  or  the  separate  system,  or 
any  other  system,  is  one  of  those  Utopianisms  fallen  into  by 
people  who  pride  themselves  on  being  practical.  Crime  is 
incurable,  save  by  that  gradual  process  of  adaptation  to  the 
social  state  which  humanity  is  undergoing.  Crime  is  the 
continual  breaking  out  of  the  old  unadapted  nature — the 
index  of  a  character  unfitted  to  its  conditions ;  and  only  as 
fast  as  the  unfitness  diminishes  can  crime  diminish.  Reform- 
ing men's  conduct  without  reforming  their  natures  is  impos- 
sible ;  and  to  expect  that  their  natures  may  be  reformed, 
otherwise  than  by  the  forces  which  are  slowly  civilizing  us, 
is  visionary.  Schemes  of  discipline  or  culture  are  of  use 
only  in  proportion  as  they  organically  alter  the  national 
character,  and  the  extent  to  which  they  do  this  is  by  no 
means  great.  It  is  not  by  humanly-devised  agencies,  good 
as  these  may  be  in  their  way,  but  it  is  by  the  never-ceasing 
action  of  circumstances  upon  men — by  the  constant  pressure 
of  their  new  conditions  upon  them — that  the  required  change 
is  mainly  affected. 

Meanwhile  it  may  be  remarked,  that  whatever  moral 
benefit  can  be  effected  by  education,  must  be  effected  by  an 
education  which  is  emotional  rather  than  intellectual.  If,  in 
place  of  making  a  child  understand  that  this  thing  is  right 
and  the  other  wrong,  you  make  it  feel  that  they  are  so — if 
you  make  virtue  loved  and  vice  loathed — if  you  arouse  a 
noble  desire,  and  make  torpid  an  inferior  one — if  you  bring 


176  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

into  life  a  previously  dormant  sentiment — if  yon  cause  a  sym- 
pathetic impulse  to  get  the  better  of  one  that  is  selfish — if, 
in  short,  you  produce  a  state  of  mind  to  which  proper  be- 
haviour is  natural,  spontaneous,  instinctive,  you  do  some 
good.  But  no  drilling  in  catechisms,  no  teaching  of  moral 
codes,  can  effect  this.  Only  by  repeatedly  awakening  the 
appropriate  emotions  can  character  be  changed.  Mere  ideas 
received  by  the  intellect,  meeting  no  response  from  within, 
are  quite  inoperative  upon  conduct,  and  are  quickly  forgotten 
after  entering  into  life. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  said  that  a  discipline  like  this  now  de- 
scribed as  the  only  efficient  one,  might  be  undertaken  by  the 
State.  No  doubt  it  might.  But  from  all  legislative  attempts 
at  emotional  education  may  Heaven  defend  us ! 

Yet  another  objection  remains.  If,  before  agitating  the 
matter,  men  had  taken  the  precaution  to  define  education, 
they  would  probably  have  seen  that  the  State  can  aiford  no 
true  help  in  the  matter. 

Of  all  qualities  which  is  the  one  men  most  need  ?  What 
is  the  quality  in  which  the  improvident  masses  are  so  defi- 
cient ?  Self-restraint — the  ability  to  sacrifice  a  small  present 
gratification  for  a  prospective  great  one.  A  labourer  en- 
dowed with  due  self-restraint  would  never  spend  his  Satur- 
day-night's wages  at  the  public-house.  Had  he  enough  self- 
restraint,  the  artizan  would  not  live  up  to  his  income  during 
prosperous  times  and  leave  the  future  unprovided  for.  More 
self-restraint  would  prevent  imprudent  marriages  and  the 
growth  of  a  pauper  population.  And  were  there  no  drunken- 
ness, no  extravagance,  no  reckless  multiplication,  social  mis- 
eries would  be  trivial. 

How  is  the  power  of  self-restraint  to  be  increased  ?  By 
a  sharp  experience  alone  can  anything  be  done.  Those  in 
whom  this  faculty  needs  drawing  out — educating — must  be 
left  to  the  discipline  of  Nature,  and  allowed  to  bear  the 
pains  attendant  on  their  defect  of  character.  The  only  cure 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  177 

for  imprudence  is  the  suffering  which  imprudence  entails. 
Nothing  but  bringing  him  face  to  face  with  stern  necessity, 
and  letting  him  feel  how  unbending,  how  uupitying,  it  is, 
can  improve  the  man  of  ill-governed  desires.  All  interpos- 
ing between  humanity  and  the  conditions  of  its  existence — 
cushioning-off  consequences  by  poor-laws  or  the  like — serves 
but  to  neutralize  the  remedy  and  prolong  the  evil.  Let  us 
never  forget  that  the  law  is — adaptation  to  circumstances,  be 
they  what  they  may.  And  if,  rather  than  allow  men  to 
come  in  contact  with  the  real  circumstances  of  their  position, 
we  place  them  in  factitious  circumstances,  they  will  adapt 
themselves  to  these  instead ;  and  will,  in  the  end,  have 
to  undergo  the  miseries  of  a  re-adaptation  to  the  real 
ones. 

Now  of  all  incentives  to  self-restraint,  perhaps  none  is  so 
strong  as  the  sense  of  parental  responsibility.  And  if  so,  to 
diminish  that  sense  is  to  use  the  most  effectual  means  of  pre- 
venting self-restraint  from  being  developed.  We  have  ample 
proof  of  this  in  the  encouragement  of  improvident  marriages 
by  a  poor-law ;  and  the  effect  which  a  poor-law  produces,  by 
relieving  men  from  the  responsibility  of  maintaining  their 
children,  must  be  produced  in  a  smaller  degree  by  taking 
away  the  responsibility  of  educating  their  children.  The 
more  the  State  undertakes  to  do  for  his  family,  the  more  are 
the  expenses  of  the  married  man  reduced,  at  the  cost  of  the 
unmarried  man,  and  the  greater  becomes  the  temptation  to 
marry.  Let  not  any  think  that  the  offer  of  apparently  gra- 
tuitous instruction  for  his  offspring  would  be  of  no  weight 
with  the  working  man  deliberating  on  the  propriety  of  tak- 
ing a  wife.  Whoever  has  watched  the  freaks  which  strong 
passion  plays  in  the  councils  of  the  intellect — has  marked 
how  it  will  bully  into  silence  the  weaker  feelings  that  oppose 
it — how  it  will  treat  slightingly  the  most  conclusive  adverse 
evidence,  while,  in  urging  the  goodness  of  its  own  cause, 
"  trifles  light  as  air  are  confirmations  strong  " — whoever  has 
marked  this,  cannot  doubt  that,  in  the  deliberations  of  such 


178  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

an  one,  the  prospect  of  free  training  for  children  would  in 
no  small  degree  affect  the  decision.  Nay,  indeed,  it  would 
afford  a  positive  reason  for  giving  way  to  his  desires.  Just 
as  a  man  at  an  expensive  dinner  will  eat  more  than  he  knows 
is  good  for  him,  on  the  principle  of  having  his  money's 
worth,  so  would  the  artizan  find  one  excuse  for  marrying  in 
the  fact  that,  unless  he  did  so,  he  would  be  paying  education- 
rates  for  nothing. 

Nor  is  it  only  thus  that  a  State-education  would  encourage 
men  to  obey  present  impulses.  An  influence  unfavourable 
to  the  increase  of  self-control  would  be  exercised  by  it 
throughout  the  whole  of  parental  life.  That  restraint  which 
the  desire  to  give  children  schooling  now  imposes  on  the 
improvident  tendencies  of  the  poor,  would  be  removed. 
Many  a  man  who,  as  things  are,  can  but  just  keep  the 
mastery  over  some  vicious  or  extravagant  propensity,  and 
whose  most  efficient  curb  is  the  thought  that  if  he  gives  way 
it  must  be  at  the  sacrifice  of  that  book-learning  which  he  is 
anxious  to  give  his  family,  would  fall  were  this  curb  weak- 
ened— would  not  only  cease  to  improve  in  power  of  self- 
control  as  he  is  now  doing,  but  would  retrograde,  and  be- 
queath his  offspring  to  a  lower  instead  of  a  higher  state 
of  life. 

Hence,  a  Government  can  educate  in  one  direction  only 
by  imeducating  in  another — can  confer  knowledge  only  at 
the  expense  of  character.  It  retards  the  development  of  an 
all-important  quality,  universally  needed,  that  it  may  give  a 
smattering  of  information. 

What  a  contrast  is  there  between  these  futile  contrivances 
of  men  and  the  silent-working  agencies  of  Nature!  "With 
a  perfect  economy,  Nature  turns  all  forces  to  account.  She 
makes  action  and  re-action  alike  useful.  This  strong  affec 
tion  for  progeny  becomes  in  her  hands  the  agent  of  a 
double  culture,  serving  at  once  to  fashion  parent  and  child 
into  the  needful  form.  Yet  this  powerful  instrumen- 
tality statesmen  propose  to  dislocate:  confidently  opining 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  179 

that   their   own  patent  apparatus  will  answer  a  great  deal 
better  ! 


.  —  Shortly  after  the  publication  of  Social  Statics 
Mr.  Samuel  Morley,  the  well-known  philanthropist,  requested 
me  to  let  him  reprint  the  foregoing  chapter  in  the  form  of 
a  pamphlet  for  distribution.  I  willingly  assented.  When, 
after  a  short  time,  a  second  edition  of  the  pamphlet  was 
called  for,  I  took  the  opportunity  of  adding  some  further 
arguments,  which  I  here  append.] 

The  majority  of  those  who  vehemently  object  to 
a  State-religion  are  disabled  from  seeing  that  their  fa- 
vourite measure,  State-education,  is  objectionable  on  similar 
grounds. 

To  the  argument  that,  as  all  truths,  whether  religious  or 
secular,  form  parts  of  one  consistent  whole,  it  seems  strange 
that  the  State  should  be  held  incompetent  to  communicate 
certain  of  them,  but  competent  to  communicate  others,  the 
reply  is  that,  concerning  the  one  order  of  truths  there  is  ex- 
tensive disagreement,  whereas  concerning  the  other  there  is 
universal  agreement.  It  is  urged  that  while  men  are  at  issue 
upon  every  point  of  religious  doctrine,  they  are  unanimous 
upon  the  alphabet,  upon  spelling,  upon  the  rules  of  arithmetic, 
upon  grammar,  upon  geography,  and  so  forth  ;  and  it  is 
argued  that,  as  the  injustice  attendant  on  State-preaching 
consists  in  the  fact  that  all  men  do  not  subscribe  to  the 
creed  preached,  it  follows  that,  as  there  is  no  difference  of 
opinion  respecting  secular  knowledge,  there  is  no  injustice  in 
the  State-propagation  of  it,  and  that,  therefore,  the  analogy 
does  not  hold. 

The  position  is  doubtless  a  plausible  one.  It  must  be  con- 
ceded, that  the  distinction  drawn  between  the  beliefs  dealt 
out  from  the  pulpit,  and  the  truths  communicated  over  the 
schoolmaster's  desk,  is  in  the  main  valid.  But  this  admis- 
sion by  no  means  implies  an  abandonment  of  the  point  con- 


180  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

tended  for.  Perhaps  a  parallel  will  best  indicate  the  right 
point  of  view. 

"  You  see  these  stones,  this  wood,  these  slates,  and  this 
lime?"  "Yes."  "You  admit  that  these  are  the  materials  of 
which  houses  are  to  be  made ? "  "I  do."  "  Then,  of  course, 
there  can  be  no  disagreement  between  us  on  the  subject  of 
building ? "  "I  beg  your  pardon ;  we  may  disagree  as  to  the 
size  of  the  house,  as  to  its  plan,  as  to  the  proportions  in 
which  the  materials  shall  be  used,  as  to  the  dressing  of  them, 
as  to  the  process  of  building,  and  as  to  endless  matters  of 
detail." 

Such,  by  analogy,  is  the  argument  of  the  State-educationist ; 
and  such  is  the  reply  to  which  they  are  open.  Pointing  to 
a  heap  of  school  books,  they  ask  whether  you  admit  the  facts 
contained  in  them.  They  follow  up  your  assent  with  the 
further  question,  whether  these  are  not  the  facts  out  of  which 
knowledge  is  to  be  organized.  And,  on  your  affirmative  an- 
swer, they  straightway  base  the  conclusion  that  education 
is  a  subject  respecting  which  there  can  be  no  dissent !  They 
forget  that  to  agree  about  the  raw  materials  involves  no 
agreement  as  to  the  manipulation  of  them. 

That  anything  like  an  agreement  as  to  the  right  way  of 
conducting  education  is  possible  in  our  existing  state,  few,  if 
any,  will  pretend.  On  the  choice  of  subjects  to  be  taught, 
on  the  order  in  which  they  should  be  taught,  on  the  manner 
in  which  they  should  be  taught,  on  the  moral  discipline  that 
should  accompany  the  teaching,  on  every  step  that  can  be 
taken,  from  the  treatment  of  our  infants  up  to  a  college  ex- 
amination, conflicting  opinions  exist.  How  strong  and  how 
well  grounded  are  these  contradictions  of  belief,  we  shall  best 
perceive  by  glancing  at  a  few  of  the  specific  objections  to  be 
raised. 

"  Gentlemen,"  may  say  some  thoughtful  citizen,  "  your 
synopsis  of  instruction  contains  much  that  I  think  compara- 
tively valueless,  and  entirely  leaves  out  subjects  which  seem 
to  me  of  more  importance  than  nearly  all  others.  History 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  181 

occupies  a  prominent  position  in  your  list ;  but  I  see  no  men- 
tion of  Physiology.  Now,  as  my  children  will  have  but  a 
few  years'  schooling,  I  deny  the  propriety  of  occupying  their 
time  in  learning  all  about  people  who  lived  ages  ago  (a 
knowledge  which  will  be  of  no  daily  benefit),  when  the  time 
might  otherwise  be  occupied  in  learning  how  their  own 
bodies  are  made,  and  how  they  should  be  treated.  No  man's 
life  was  ever  saved  by  knowing  when  the  battle  of  Agincourt 
was  fought,  or  how  many  wives  Henry  VIII.  had;  but 
every  day,  thousands  go  to  their  deaths  from  unwittingly 
sinning  against  the  laws  of  their  constitutions.  You  think 
him  grossly  ignorant  who  cannot  say  whether  it  was  Charles 
I.  or  Charles  II.  who  was  beheaded.  I  tell  you  that,  judged 
by  any  rational  standard,  he  is  much  more  grossly  ignorant 
who  knows  nothing  about  the  nature  and  functions  of  the 
frame  he  lives  in.  What  you  call  ignorance  is  harmless; 
what  /  call  ignorance  is  often  fatal.  No,  no ;  with  such  an 
absurd  selection  of  subjects  you  shall  educate  no  son  of 
mine." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  objects  another,  "  that  your  system  is 
utterly  unphilosophical  in  arrangement.  Following  the  old 
precedent,  you  propose  to  begin  with  the  alphabet;  and, 
passing  on  from  reading  to  writing  and  arithmetic,  take  the 
other  subjects  in  turn.  Yet  this  course,  which  you  think  so 
reasonable,  I  believe  to  be  radically  vicious.  To  me  it  is 
quite  clear  that  the  mind,  like  the  body,  has  a  natural  order 
in  which  its  faculties  unfold  ;  and  that  we  must  inquire  what 
that  order  is,  and  conform  to  it.  You  would  think  him  a 
foolish  parent  who  tried  to  make  his  child's  limbs  and  viscera 
develop  in  some  particular  succession  which  he  fancied  the 
best.  You  would  tell  him  that  if  he  but  afforded  the  nour- 
ishment and  exercise  Nature  craved,  she  would  do  the  rest 
much  better  than  he  could.  Nevertheless,  this  empirical 
scheme  of  culture  in  which,  for  aught  I  see,  you  have  not  at 
all  consulted  Nature,  involves  a  similar  folly ;  and  what  you 
would  say  in  the  analogous  case,  I  now  say  to  you ;  namely, 


182  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

that  the  true  function  of  the  teacher  is  to  observe  the  order 
of  evolution  of  the  faculties,  and  constantly  to  supply  that 
kind  of  knowledge  which  the  mind  shows  itself  fit  to  assimi- 
late. A  partial  recognition  of  this  truth  is  shown  in  the 
modern  practice  of  beginning  education  with  the  discipline 
of  the  perceptions;  and  it  will  presently  be  seen  that  the 
same  truth  applies  throughout.  Now  as  your  scheme  ignores 
all  this,  and  as  I  do  not  choose  ihat  my  children  should  be 
stinted  of  facts  for  which  their  intellects  hunger,  while  they 
are  made  to  take  in  facts  which  their  intellects  cannot  prop- 
erly digest,  I  must  decline  the  tuition  you  offer." 

"  This  learning  by  rote  is  a  barbarism,"  a  third  exclaims. 
"So  far  from  strengthening  the  memory,  I  hold  that  it 
weakens  it.  A  good  memory  is  one  which  retains  an  idea 
after  a  single  impression  ;  a  bad  memory  is  one  which  cannot 
retain  an  idea  until  after  many  repetitions  of  the  impression. 
Now,  from  the  universal  law  that  faculties  can  become 
strong  only  by  exercise,  and  will  become  weak  when  not 
exercised,  it  follows  that  the  memory  must  be  strengthened 
by  inducing  a  constant  effort  to  remember  facts,  words,  or 
expressions,  after  once  hearing  or  reading  them ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  follows  that  the  memory  must  be  weakened 
by  rendering  this  effort  needless.  Your  system  of  learning 
by  rote  does  render  it  needless.  With  his  lesson-book  lying 
before  him,  and  with  the  consciousness  that  he  can  refer  to 
it  as  often  as  he  likes,  the  schoolboy  has  no  incentive  to  con- 
centrate his  attention.  He  allows  his  mind  to  wander  off 
into  every  train  of  ideas  that  suggests  itself ;  knowing  that 
he  can  come  back  to  his  task  when  he  pleases.  This  habit 
grows  upon  him :  he  frequently  almost  loses  the  ability  to 
control  his  erratic  thoughts  ;  and  finally  falls  into  the  practice 
of  repeating  the  words  he  is  learning  in  a  semi-conscious  way 
— half  thinking  of  them,  and  half  of  something  else.  Thus, 
the  power  of  mental  concentration  being  comparatively  un- 
necessary, diminishes.  Hence  the  impressions  received  be- 
come less  vivid ;  that  is,  the  memory  becomes  weaker.  I 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  183 

cannot,  therefore,  avail  myself  of  a  course  of  culture  which, 
like  yours,  is  vitiated  by  so  bad  a  method." 

"  To  my  mind,"  remarks  a  fourth,  "  your  discipline  seems 
faulty.  I  disapprove  of  managing  children  by  rewards  and 
punishments.  In  common  with  many  others,  I  think  that 
the  love  of  praise  is  a  sentiment  already  too  strong  in  nearly 
all  men ;  and  hence  I  object  to  a  treatment  which,  by  often 
gratifying  it,  must  make  it  still  stronger.  Equally  to  be 
deprecated  are  your  modes  of  correction.  Apparent  per- 
versities, both  moral  and  intellectual,  are  in  many  cases  more 
due  to  the  teacher  than  the  pupil :  resulting,  as  they  usually 
do,  either  from  a  non-adaptation  of  the  subject  to  the  age,  or 
from  a  bad  method.  And  when  the  pupil  really  is  to  blame, 
I  hold  that  your  harsh  measures  are  nearly  always  detrimental. 
If  lack  of  ability  is  the  defect,  a  little  sympathy  and  a  few 
words  of  encouragement  will  do  more  than  frowns  and  abuse ; 
and  in  cases  of  misbehaviour,  a  grave  rebuke,  kindly  given 
by  a  master  who  makes  himself  the  friend  of  his  scholars, 
will  succeed  better  than  the  blows  of  one  who  is  regarded 
with  enmity.  Thinking  thus,  as  I  do,  you  must  see  that  your 
system  is  quite  unacceptable." 

"  I  unite  in  all  the  objections,"  adds  a  fifth,  "  and  enter- 
tain others  of  my  own.  With  me,  resistance  is  a  point  of 
conscience.  These  children  of  mine  I  regard  as  beings  with 
whose  welfare,  bodily  and  mental,  I  stand  charged ;  and  I 
conceive  that  I  am  acting  unconscientiously  if  I  allow  them 
to  be  treated  in  a  manner  which  I  believe  hurtful.  Now  to 
me  your  scheme  of  education  seems,  in  many  respects,  essen- 
tially vicious.  Would  it  not,  then,  be  a  gross  breach  of  duty 
in  me  to  put  my  children  under  your  care  ?  I  pity  you,  if 
you  say  no.  And  if  it  would  be  a  breach  of  duty,  what  am 
I  to  do  but  resist  ?  Am  I  to  pay  your  education-rates  and 
get  nothing  in  return?  Perhaps  you  will  answer,  yes.  I 
must  tell  you,  however,  that  my  conscience  will  no  more 
permit  me  to  do  this  than  it  will  permit  me  to  use  your 
schools.  Not  only  should  I  be  aiding  you  to  mis-educate 


SOCIAL  STATICS. 

my  neighbour's  children,  which  my  desire  for  human  welfare 
forbids,  but  I  should  be  submitting  to  an  injustice  which  I 
feel  bound  to  oppose.  Would  you  not  consider  it  a  duty  to 
resist  those  who  tried  to  enslave  you?  Knowing  how  de- 
structive of  happiness  slavery  is,  would  you  not  look  011 
yourself  as  a  traitor  to  humanity  did  you  passively  allow  its 
establishment  in  your  person  ?  Of  course  you  would.  Well, 
on  like  grounds  I  must  withstand  this  encroachment  on  my 
liberties.  Believing,  as  I  do,  that  it  is  for  the  well-being  of 
mankind  that  the  freedom  of  each  should  be  unlimited  save 
by  the  equal  freedoms  of  all,  I  cannot  conscientiously  ac- 
quiesce in  your  aggressions.  I  tell  you,  therefore,  that  I  will 
not  put  my  children  under  your  management.  I  tell  you  that 
I  will  not,  at  your  dictation,  pay  towards  other  men's  school- 
bills.  And  further,  I  tell  you,  that  if  you  will  have  my  prop- 
erty, you  shall  rob  me  of  it ;  as  the  Church  does." 

Now,  whatever  he  may  think  of  these  several  grounds  for 
nonconformity,  the  last  of  which  has  already  been  practically 
assumed  in  America,  the  advocate  of  State-education  must 
admit  that  they  are  quite  possible  ones.  He  must  admit,  too, 
that  such  differences  of  opinion  on  juvenile  culture  have 
been  increasing,  and  will  probably  continue  to  increase.  He 
must  admit  that  as,  when  men  began  to  discuss  theological 
questions,  the  original  unity  of  belief  gave  place  to  divisions 
which  have  augmented  with  growing  rapidity  ;  so,  now  that 
education  has  become  a  subject  of  thought,  the  past  uni- 
formity of  practice  has  been  superseded  by  a  variety  of 
methods  which  promise  to  multiply  still  further.  He  must 
admit  that,  until  psychology,  of  which  we  yet  know  but 
little,  has  been  reduced  to  scientific  ordination,  and  is  uni- 
versally understood,  no  general  agreement  as  to  the  right 
conduct  of  education  can  become  possible.  He  must  further 
admit  that  the  daily  increase  of  enlightenment,  by  making 
men  more  alive  to  the  importance  of  mental  training,  will 
render  them  more  averse  to  putting  their  children  under  a 
questionable  discipline.  And,  lastly,  he  must  admit  that, 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  185 

conspiring  with  this,  the  continued  growth  of  that  sense  of 
personal  rights  which  distinguishes  modern  civilization,  will 
in  course  of  time  produce  a  determined  dissent. 

Hence,  its  advocates  cannot  but  confess  that  State-educa- 
tion is  unjust.  By  seeking  to  draw  a  distinction  between  it 
and  State-religion,  they  tacitly  admit  that,  were  there  no 
distinction,  State-education  would  be  inadmissible.  We  have 
found  that  the  assumed  distinction  does  not  hold  good. 
Though,  as  regards  belief  in  the  things  taught,  the  alleged 
want  of  parallelism  exists,  yet,  as  to  modes  of  teaching,  the 
same  nonconformity  is  common  to  both.  And  if  disapproval 
of  its  organization  or  government,  its  ceremonial,  forms  or 
discipline,  is  allowed  to  be  valid  ground  for  dissent  from  a 
State-religion,  it  must  be  allowed  that  an  analogous  dis- 
approval of  its  routine,  methods,  or  course  of  culture,  is  valid 
ground  for  dissent  from  a  State-education — an  admission 
which  can  leave  it  no  consistent  supporters  save  churchmen. 

The  members  of  the  Public  School  Association,  and  their 
rivals,  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Richson's  scheme,  exhibit  an 
energy  and  munificence  much  to  be  admired.  Donations 
from  £500  downwards  testify  to  no  small  zeal  for  popular 
enlightenment.  They  who  devote  valuable  time  to  the 
writing  of  tracts,  newspaper  letters,  and  leading  articles 
must  have  a  strong  interest  in  the  success  of  their  projects. 
Tired  men  of  business,  who  give  up  their  leisure  to  attend 
committees,  show  a  praiseworthy  spirit  of  self-sacrifice. 
The  getting  up  of  public  meetings,  the  preparation  and 
delivery  of  lectures  and  speeches,  the  devising  of  Acts  of 
Parliament,  the  obtaining  signatures  to  petitions,  the  form- 
ing of  local  organizations,  and  the  many  other  kinds  of 
labour  which  these  gentlemen  undertake  in  the  carrying  on 
of  their  extensive  agitation,  prove  how  great  a  desire  they 
have  for  the  spread  of  knowledge.  There  is  no  law  com- 
pelling them  to  act  thus.  No  tax-gatherer  comes  round  for 
their  subscriptions,  saying, — "  Your  money  or  your  goods." 


186  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

No  penalty  attaches  to  non-attendance  at  committees  and 
meetings ;  nor  are  the  onerous  offices  many  of  them  fill  un- 
dertaken because  refusal  would  entail  a  fine.  All  that  they  do 
they  do  willingly.  Moreover,  they  expect  to  generate  in  the 
mass  of  the  community  a  similar  disinterested  zeal.  They 
issue  books  and  pamphlets,  deliver  lectures  and  speeches, 
with  a  view  to  make  men  join  and  help  them.  And  by  per- 
severing in  this  course — by  raising  more  subscriptions,  ac- 
quiring more  members,  having  more  meetings,  circulating 
more  reports,  issuing  more  tracts,  getting-up  more  petitions, 
and  so,  gradually  increasing  the  number  of  those  who  will 
devote  time  or  money  to  the  cause,  they  hope  ultimately  to 
create  a  public  opinion  strong  enough  to  embody  their  project 
in  law. 

Bearing  in  mind  which  facts,  let  these  gentlemen,  when 
next  they  estimate  the  efficiency  of  voluntaryism,  include  in 
their  estimate  what  they  have  done  and  hope  to  do.  Let 
them  remember  that  the  agency  by  which  they  expect  to 
rouse  the  indifferent,  unite  the  jealous,  persuade  the  adverse 
— in  short,  to  educate  the  people  into  their  views — is  the 
agency  which  they  think  so  ridiculously  inadequate  to  edu- 
cate the  people's  children.  To  determine  what  this  agency 
can  do,  they  must  assume  legislative  aid  to  be  out  of  the 
question,  and  then  add  all  their  own  energy  to  the  energy  of 
their  opponents.  That  this  energy  is  of  the  same  nature  in 
both,  they  cannot  deny.  Zeal  for  popular  enlightenment  is 
the  motive  force  in  each  case ;  in  each  case  this  zeal  produces 
active  efforts;  and  though  different  means  are  chosen,  yet 
these  efforts  are  directed  to  the  same  end.  Clearly,  therefore, 
to  judge  how  far  knowledge  may  be  diffused  without  State- 
aid,  all  the  energy  now  directed,  and  to  be  hereafter  directed, 
to  the  obtaining  of  State-aid,  must  be  added  to  the  energy 
expended  in  our  present  teaching  organizations. 

If  the  State-educationists  are  startled  at  being  thus  classed 
as  practical  though  unconscious  voluntaries,  they  will  be  yet 
more  startled  on  finding  how  much  they  expect  voluntaryism 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  187 

to  achieve.  They  wish  to  have,  throughout  the  kingdom,  a 
system  of  schools  under  local  control,  but  supported  by  com- 
pulsory rates.  This  system  they  seek  to  establish  by  law. 
So  to  establish  it  they  are  carrying  on  an  active  agitation,  in 
the  hope  of,  by-and-bye,  inducing  a  majority  of  the  people  to 
think  with  them.  And  when  the  majority  demands  it,  their 
project  is  to  receive  legislative  realization.  To  what  state  of 
feeling,  then,  do  they  hope  to  bring  the  majority?  They 
hope  so  to  interest  them  on  behalf  of  this  plan,  so  to  impress 
them  with  the  importance  of  education,  so  to  rouse  their 
sympathy  for  the  uncultured  and  their  pity  for  the  depraved, 
that  they  may  say  to  the  Government — "  Let  us  be  taxed 
that  there  may  be  enough  schools  and  teachers."  This  is 
what  the  advocates  of  State-education  hope  by  their  volun- 
tary efforts  to  make  the  majority  say :  no  small  feat,  too,  if 
they  succeed  in  it.  But  now  let  them  just  ask  themselves 
whether  it  is  not  possible  that  the  same  persevering  persua- 
sion which  shall  make  the  majority  say, — "  Let  us  be  taxed 
that  there  may  be  enough  schools  and  teachers,"  might  as 
readily  make  them  say, — "  Let  us  provide  schools  and  teach- 
ers ourselves."  If  the  majority  may  be  made  so  anxious  for 
the  spread  of  enlightenment  as  to  wish  the  State  to  put  its 
hands  in  their  pockets,  may  not  a  little  more  persuasion 
make  them  put  their  own  hands  in  their  pockets  ? 


GOVERNMENT  COLONIZATION. 

A  COLONY  being  a  community,  to  ask  whether  it  is  right 
for  the  State  to  found  and  govern  colonies,  is  practically  to 
ask  whether  it  is  right  for  one  community  to  found  and 
govern  other  communities.  And  this  question  not  being  one 
in  which  the  relationships  of  a  society  to  its  own  authorities 
are  alone  involved,  but  being  one  into  which  there  enter  the 
interests  of  men  external  to  such  society,  is  in  some  measure 
removed  out  of  the  class  of  questions  hitherto  considered. 
Nevertheless,  our  directing  principle  affords  satisfactory 
guidance  in  this  case  as  well  as  in  others. 

That  a  Government  cannot  undertake  to  administer  the 
affairs  of  a  colony,  and  to  support  for  it  a  judicial  staff,  a 
constabulary,  a  garrison,  and  so  forth,  without  trespassing 
against  the  parent  society,  scarcely  needs  pointing  out.  Any 
expenditure  for  these  purposes,  be  it  like  our  own  some  three 
and  a  half  millions  sterling  a  year,  or  but  a  few  thousands, 
involves  a  breach  of  State-duty.  The  taking  from  men  prop- 
erly beyond  what  is  needful  for  the  better  securing  of  their 
rights,  we  have  seen  to  be  an  infringement  of  their  rights. 
Colonial  expenditure  cannot  be  met  without  property  being 
so  taken.  Colonial  expenditure  is  therefore  unjustifiable. 

An  objector  might  indeed  allege  that,  by  maintaining  in 
a  settlement  a  subordinate  legislature,  the  parent  legislature 
does  but  discharge  towards  the  settlers  its  original  office  of 
protector ;  and  that  the  settlers  have  a  claim  to  protection  at 
its  hands.  But  the  duty  of  a  society  towards  itself,  that  is, 


GOVERNMENT  COLONIZATION.  189 

of  a  Government  towards  its  subjects,  will  not  permit  the 
assumption  of  such  a  responsibility.  For,  as  it  is  the  func- 
tion of  a  Government  to  administer  the  law  of  equal  freedom, 
it  cannot,  without  reversing  its  function,  tax  one  portion  of 
its  subjects  at  a  higher  rate  than  is  needful  to  protect  them, 
that  it  may  give  protection  to  another  portion  below  prime 
cost;  and  to  guard  those  who  emigrate,  at  the  expense  of 
those  who  remain,  is  to  do  this. 

In  one  way,  however,  legislative  union  between  a  parent 
State  and  its  colonies  may  be  maintained  without  breach  of 
the  law  ;  namely,  by  making  them  integral  parts  of  one  em- 
pire, severally  represented  in  a  united  assembly  commissioned 
to  govern  the  whole.  But,  theoretically  just  as  such  an 
arrangement  may  be,  it  is  too  palpably  impolitic  for  serious 
consideration.  To  propose  that,  while  the  English  joined  in 
legislating  for  the  people  of  Australia,  of  the  Cape,  of  New 
Zealand,  of  Canada,  of  Jamaica,  and  of  the  rest,  these  should 
in  turn  legislate  for  the  English  and  for  each  other,  is  much 
like  proposing  that  the  butcher  should  superintend  the  classi- 
fication of  the  draper's  goods,  the  draper  draw  up  a  tariff  of 
prices  for  the  grocer,  and  the  grocer  instruct  the  baker  in 
making  bread. 

It  was  exceedingly  cool  of  Pope  Alexander  VI.  to  parcel 
out  the  unknown  countries  of  the  Earth  between  the 
Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  granting  to  Spain  all  discovered 
and  undiscovered  heathen  lands  lying  West  of  a  certain 
meridian  drawn  through  the  Atlantic,  and  to  Portugal  those 
lying  East  of  it.  Queen  Elizabeth,  too,  was  somewhat  cool 
when  she  empowered  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  "to  discover 
and  take  possession  of  remote  and  heathen  countries,"  and 
"  to  exercise  rights,  royalties,  and  jurisdiction,  in  such  coun- 
tries and  seas  adjoining."  Nor  did  Charles  II.  show  less 
coolness,  when  he  gave  to  Winthrop,  Mason,  and  others, 
power  to  "  kill,  slay,  and  destroy,  by  all  fitting  ways,  enter- 
prises, and  means  whatsoever,  all  and  every  such  person  or 
13 


190  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

persons  as  shall  at  any  time  hereafter  attempt  or  enterprise 
the  destruction,  invasion,  detriment,  or  annoyance  of  the  in- 
habitants," of  the  proposed  plantation  of  Connecticut.  In- 
deed, all  colonizing  expeditions  down  to  those  of  our  own 
day,  with  its  American  annexations,  its  French  occupations 
of  Algiers  and  Tahiti,  and  its  British  conquests  of  Scinde 
and  of  the  Punjaub,  have  borne  a  repulsive  likeness  to  the 
doings  of  buccaneers.  As  usual,  however,  these  unscrupulous 
acts  have  brought  deserved  retribution.  Insatiate  greediness 
has  generated  very  erroneous  beliefs,  and  betrayed  nations 
into  most  disastrous  deeds.  "  Men  are  rich  in  proportion  to 
their  acres,"  argued  politicians.  "  An  increase  of  estate  is 
manifestly  equivalent  to  an  increase  of  wealth.  What,  then, 
can  be  clearer  than  that  the  acquirement  of  new  territory 
must  be  a  national  advantage  ?  "  So,  misled  by  the  analogy, 
and  spurred  on  by  acquisitiveness,  we  have  continued  to  seize 
province  after  province,  in  utter  disregard  of  the  losses 
entailed  by  them._  In  fact,  it  has  been  inconceivable  that 
they  do  entail  losses ;  and  though  doubt  is  beginning  to  dawn 
upon  the  public  mind,  the  instinctive  desire  to  keep  hold  is 
too  strong  to  permit  a  change  of  policy.  Our  predicament  is 
like  that  of  the  monkey  in  the  fable,  who,  putting  his  hand 
into  a  jar  of  fruit,  grasps  so  large  a  quantity  that  he  cannot 
get  his  hand  out  again,  and  is  obliged  to  drag  the  jar  about 
with  him,  never  thinking  to  let  go  what  he  has  seized. 
When  we  shall  attain  to  something  more  than  the  ape's  wis- 
dom remains  to  be  seen. 

While  the  mere  propensity  to  thieve,  commonly  known 
under  some  grandiloquent  alias,  has  been  the  real  prompter 
of  colonizing  invasions,  from  those  of  Cortez  and  Pizarro 
downwards,  the  ostensible  purpose  of  them  has  been  either 
the  spread  of  religion  or  the  extension  of  commerce.  In 
modern  days  the  latter  excuse  has  been  the  favourite  one. 
To  obtain  more  markets — this  is  what  people  have  said  aloud 
to  each  other,  was  the  object  aimed  at.  And,  though  second 


GOVERNMENT  COLONIZATION.  191 

to  the  widening  of  empire,  it  has  been  to  the  compassing  of 
this  object  that  colonial  legislation  has  been  mainly  directed. 
Let  us  consider  the  worth  of  such  legislation. 

Those  holy  men  of  whom  the  middle  ages  were  so  prolific, 
seem  to  have  delighted  in  exhibiting  their  supernatural 
powers  on  the  most  trifling  occasions.  It  was  a  common 
feat  with  them,  when  engaged  in  church-building,  magically 
to  lengthen  a  beam  which  the  carpenter  had  made  too  short. 
Some  were  in  the  constant  habit  of  calling  down  fire  from 
heaven  to  light  their  candles.  When  at  a  loss  where  to  de- 
posit his  habiliments,  St.  Goar,  of  Treves,  would  transform 
a  sunbeam  into  a  hat-peg.  And  it  is  related  of  St.  Colum- 
banus  that  he  wrought  a  miracle  to  keep  the  grubs  from  his 
cabbages.  Now,  although  these  examples  of  the  use  of  vast 
means  for  the  accomplishment  of  insignificant  ends,  are  not 
quite  paralleled  by  the  exertions  of  Governments  to  secure 
colonial  trade,  the  absurdity  attaching  to  both  differs  only  in 
degree.  An  expenditure  of  power  ridiculously  dispropor- 
tionate to  the  occasion  is  their  common  characteristic.  In  the 
one  case,  as  in  the  other,  an  unnatural  agency  is  employed  to 
effect  what  a  natural  agency  would  effect  as  well.  Trade  is  a 
simple  enough  thing  that  will  grow  up  wherever  there  is  room 
for  it.  But,  according  to  statesmen,  it  must  be  created  by  a 
gigantic  and  costly  machinery.  That  trade  only  is  advanta- 
geous to  a  country  which  brings  in  return  for  what  is  directly 
and  indirectly  given,  a  greater  worth  of  commodities  than 
could  otherwise  be  obtained.  But  statesmen  recognize  no 
such  limit  to  its  benefits.  Every  new  outlet  for  English 
goods,  kept  open  at  no  matter  what  cost,  they  think  valuable. 
Here  is  some  scrubby  little  island,  or  wild  territory — un- 
healthy, or  barren,  or  inclement,  or  uninhabited  even — which 
by  right  of  discovery,  conquest,  or  diplomatic  manoauvring, 
may  be  laid  hands  on.  Possession  is  forthwith  taken;  a 
high-salaried  governor  is  appointed ;  officials  collect  round 
him ;  then  follow  forts,  garrisons,  guardships.  From  these 
by-and-bye  come  quarrels  with  neighbouring  peoples,  incur- 


192  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

gions,  war ;  and  these  again  call  for  more  defensive  works, 
more  force,  more  money.  And  to  all  protests  against  this 
reckless  expenditure,  the  reply  is — "  Consider  how  it  extends 
our  commerce."  If  you  grumble  at  the  sinking  of  £800,000 
in  fortifying  Gibraltar  and  Malta,  at  the  outlay  of  £130,000 
a  year  for  the  defence  of  the  Ionian  Islands,  at  the  mainte- 
nance of  1200  soldiers  in  such  a  good-for-nothing  place  as  the 
Bermudas,  at  the  garrisoning  of  St.  Helena,  Hong  Kong, 
Heligoland,  and  the  rest,  you  are  told  that  all  this  is  needful 
for  the  protection  of  our  commerce.  If  you  object  to  the 
expenditure  of  £110,000  per  annum  on  the  Government  of 
Ceylon,  it  is  thought  a  sufficient  answer  that  Ceylon  buys 
manufactures  from  us  to  the  gross  value  of  £240,000  yearly. 
Any  criticisms  you  may  pass  upon  the  policy  of  retaining 
Canada,  at  an  annual  cost  of  £800,000,  are  met  by  the  fact 
that  this  amounts  to  only  30  per  cent,  upon  the  sum  which 
the  Canadians  spend  on  our  goods.*  Should  you,  under  the 
fear  that  the  East  India  Company's  debt  may  some  day  be 
saddled  upon  the  people  of  England,  lament  the  outlay  of 
£17,000,000  over  the  Afghan  war,  the  sinking  of  £1,000,000 
a  year  in  Scinde,  and  the  swallowing  up  of  untold  treasure  in 
the  subjugation  of  the  Punjaub,  there  still  comes  the  ever- 
lasting excuse  of  more  trade.  A  Bornean  jungle,  the  deserts 
of  Kaffraria,  and  the  desolate  hills  of  the  Falkland  Islands, 
are  all  occupied  upon  this  plea.  The  most  profuse  expendi- 
ture is  forgiven,  if  but  followed  by  an  insignificant  demand  for 
merchandise :  even  though  such  demand  be  but  for  the  supply 
of  a  garrison's  necessities — glass  for  barrack  windows,  starch 
for  officer's  shirts,  and  lump-sugar  for  the  governor's  table : 
all  of  which  you  shall  find  carefully  included  in  Board  of 
Trade  Tables,  and  rejoiced  over  as  constituting  an  increase  in 
our  exports ! 

But  not  only  do  we  expend  so  much  to  gain  so  little,  we 

*  For  these  and  other  such  facts,  see  Sir  W.  Molesworth's  speeches  de- 
livered during  the  sessions  of  1848  and  1849. 


GOVERNMENT  COLONIZATION.  193 

absolutely  expend  it  for  nothing :  nay,  indeed,  in  some  cases 
to  achieve  a  loss.  All  profitable  trade  with  colonies  will 
come  without  the  outlay  of  a  penny  for  colonial  administra- 
tion— must  flow  to  us  naturally  ;  and  whatever  trade  will  not 
flow  to  us  naturally,  is  not  profitable,  but  the  reverse.  If  a 
given  settlement  deals  solely  with  us,  it  does  so  from  one  of 
two  causes :  either  we  make  the  articles  its  inhabitants  con- 
sume at  a  lower  rate  than  any  other  nation,  or  we  oblige  its 
inhabitants  to  buy  those  articles  from  us,  though  they  might 
obtain  them  for  less  elsewhere.  Manifestly,  if  we  can  under- 
sell other  producers,  we  should  still  exclusively  supply  its 
markets  were  the  settlement  independent.  If  we  cannot 
undersell  them,  it  is  equally  certain  that  we  are  indirectly 
injuring  ourselves  and  the  settlers  too;  for,  as  M'Culloch 
says  : — "  Each  country  has  some  natural  or  acquired  capabili- 
ties that  enable  her  to  carry  on  certain  branches  of  industry 
more  advantageously  than  any  one  else.  But  the  fact  of  a 
country  being  undersold  in  the  markets  of  her  colonies, 
shows  conclusively  that,  instead  of  having  any  superiority, 
she  labours  under  a  disadvantage,  as  compared  with  others, 
in  the  production  of  the  peculiar  articles  in  demand  in  them. 
And  hence,  in  providing  a  forced  market  in  the  colonies  for 
articles  that  we  should  not  otherwise  be  able  to  dispose  of, 
we  really  engage  a  portion  of  the  capital  and  labour  of  the 
country  in  a  less  advantageous  channel  than  that  into  which 
it  would  naturally  have  flowed."  And  if,  to  the  injury 
we  do  ourselves  by  manufacturing  goods  which  we  could 
more  economically  buy,  is  added  the  injury  we  suffer 
in  pacifying  the  colonists,  by  purchasing  from  them  com- 
modities obtainable  on  better  terms  elsewhere,  we  have 
before  us  the  twofold  loss  which  these  much-coveted  mo- 
nopolies entail. 

Thus  are  we  again  taught  how  worthy  of  all  reverence  are 
the  injunctions  of  equity,  and  how  universal  is  their  applica- 
bility. Just  that  commercial  intercourse  with  colonies  which 
may  be  had  without  breaking  these  injunctions,  brings  gain, 


194:  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

while  just  that  commercial  intercourse  which  cannot  be  so 
had,  brings  loss. 

Passing  from  home  interests  to  colonial  interests,  we  still 
meet  nothing  but  evil  results.  It  is  a  prettily  sounding 
expression,  that  of  mother-country  protection,  but  a  very 
delusive  one.  If  we  are  to  believe  those  who  have  known 
the  thing  rather  than  the  name,  there  is  but  little  of  the 
maternal  about  it.  In  the  Declaration  of  American  Inde- 
pendence we  have  a  candid  statement  of  experience  on  this 
point.  Speaking  of  the  king — the  personification  of  the 
parent  State — the  settlers  say : — 

"  He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice,  by  re- 
fusing his  assent  to  laws  for  establishing  judiciary  powers. 

"He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  and  sent  hither 
swarms  of  officers  to  harass  our  people,  and  eat  out  their  sub- 
stance. 

"  He  has  kept  among  us  in  times  of  peace  standing  armies, 
without  the  consent  of  our  legislatures. 

"  He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to  a  jurisdic- 
tion foreign  to  our  constitution  and  unacknowledged  by  our 
laws;  giving  his  assent  to  their  pretended  acts  of  legisla- 
tion : — 

"  For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  troops  among  us. 

"  For  protecting  them  by  a  mock  trial  from  punishment 
for  any  murders  which  they  should  commit  on  the  inhabitants 
of  these  states. 

"  For  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world. 

"  For  imposing  taxes  upon  us  without  our  consent. 

"  For  depriving  us  in  many  cases  of  the  benefits  of  trial 
by  jury,"  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 

Now,  though  tyrannies  so  atrocious  as  these  do  not  com- 
monly disgrace  colonial  legislation  in  the  present  day,  we 
have  but  to  glance  over  the  newspapers  published  in  our 
foreign  possessions,  to  see  that  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the 
Colonial  Office  is  no  blessing.  Two  outbreaks  in  fifteen 


GOVERNMENT  COLONIZATION.  195 

years  pretty  plainly  hint  the  feeling  of  the  Canadas.  "Within 
the  same  period  the  Cape  Boers  have  revolted  thrice ;  and 
we  have  just  had  a  tumultuous  agitation  and  a  violent  paper 
war  about  convicts.  In  the  West  Indies  there  is  universal 
discontent.  Jamaica  advices  tell  of  stopped  supplies,  and 
State-machinery  at  a  dead  lock.  Guiana  sends  like  news. 
Here  are  quarrels  about  retrenchment ;  there,  insurrectionary 
riots ;  and  anger  is  everywhere.  The  name  of  Ceylon  calls 
to  mind  the  insolence  of  a  titled  governor  on  the  one  side, 
and  on  the  other  the  bitterness  of  insulted  colonists.  In  the 
Australian  settlements,  criminal  immigration  has  been  the 
sore  subject ;  while  from  New  Zealand  there  come  protests 
against  official  despotism.  All  winds  bring  the  same  tale  of 
a  negligence  caring  for  no  expostulations,  impertinence  with- 
out end,  blunderings,  disputes,  delays,  corruption.  Canadians 
complain  of  having  been  induced  by  a  proffered  privilege  to 
sink  their  capital  in  flour-mills,  which  subsequent  legislation 
made  useless.  With  an  ever-varying  amount  of  protection, 
sugar-planters  say  they  do  not  know  what  to  be  at.  South 
Africa  bears  witness  to  a  mismanagement  that  at  one  time 
makes  enemies  of  the  Griquas,  and  at  another  entails  a  Kaffir 
war.  The  emigrants  of  New  Zealand  lament  over  a  seat  of 
government  absurdly  chosen,  money  thrown  away  upon  use- 
less roads,  and  needful  works  left  undone.  South  Australia 
is  made  bankrupt  by  its  governor's  extravagance ;  lands  are 
apportioned  so  as  to  barbarize  the  settlers  by  dispersion  ;  and 
labourers  are  sent  out  in  excess,  and  left  to  beg.  Our  Chinese 
trade  gets  endangered  by  the  insulting  behaviour  of  military 
officers  to  the  natives ;  and  the  authorities  of  Labuan  make 
their  first  settlement  in  a  pestilential  swamp. 

Nevertheless,  these  results  of  mother-country  protection 
need  not  surprise  us,  if  we  consider  by  whom  the  duties  of 
maternity  are  discharged.  Dotted  here  and  there  over  the 
Earth,  at  distances  varying  from  one  thousand  to  fourteen 
thousand  miles,  and  to  and  from  some  of  which  it  takes  three- 
quarters  of  a  year  to  send  a  question  and  get  back  an  answer, 


196  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

are  forty-six  communities,  consisting  of  different  races,  placed 
in  different  circumstances.  And  the  affairs  of  these  numerous, 
far-removed  communities — their  commercial,  social,  political, 
and  religious  interests,  are  to  be  cared  for — by  whom  ?  By 
six  functionaries  and  their  twenty-three  clerks,  sitting  at  desks 
in  Downing  Street !  being  at  the  rate  of  0'13  of  a  functionary 
and  half  a  clerk  to  each  settlement ! 

Great,  however,  as  are  the  evils  entailed  by  government 
colonization  upon  both  parent  State  and  settlers,  they  look 
insignificant  when  compared  with  those  it  inflicts  on  the 
aborigines  of  the  conquered  countries.  The  people  of  Java 
believe  that  the  souls  of  Europeans  pass  at  death  into  the 
bodies  of  tigers ;  and  it  is  related  of  a  Hispaniolan  chief  that 
he  hoped  not  to  go  to  heaven  when  he  heard  there  would  be 
Spaniards  there.  Significant  facts  these :  darkly  suggestive 
of  many  an  unrecorded  horror.  But  they  hint  nothing  worse 
than  history  tells  of.  "Whether  we  think  of  the  extinct  West- 
Indian  tribss,  who  were  worked  to  death  in  mines ;  or  of  the 
Cape  Hottentots,  whose  masters  punished  them  by  shooting 
small  shot  into  their  legs;  or  of  those  nine  thousand  Chinese 
whom  the  Dutch  massacred  one  morning  in  Batavia ;  or  of  the 
Arabs  lately  suffocated  in  the  caves  of  Dahra  by  the  French ; 
we  do  but  call  to  mind  solitary  samples  of  the  treatment  com- 
monly received  by  subjugated  races  from  so-called  Christian 
nations.  Should  any  one  flatter  himself  that  we  English  are 
guiltless  of  such  barbarities,  he  may  soon  be  shamed  by  a 
narrative  of  our  doings  in  the  East.  The  Anglo-Indians  of 
the  last  century — "  birds  of  prey  and  of  passage,"  as  they 
were  styled  by  Burke — showed  themselves  only  a  shade  less 
cruel  than  their  prototypes  of  Peru  and  Mexico.  Imagine 
how  black  must  have  been  their  deeds,  when  even  the 
Directors  of  the  Company  admitted  that  "  the  vast  fortunes 
acquired  in  the  inland  trade  have  been  obtained  by  a  scene 
of  the  most  tyrannical  and  oppressive  conduct  that  was  ever 
known  in  any  age  or  country."  Conceive  the  atrocious  state 


GOVERNMENT  COLONIZATION.  197 

of  society  described  by  Vansittart,  who  tells  us  that  the 
English  compelled  the  natives  to  buy  or  sell  at  just  what 
rates  they  pleased,  on  pain  of  flogging  or  confinement.  Judge 
to  what  a  pass  things  must  have  come  when,  in  describing  a 
journey,  "Warren  Hasting  says, "  most  of  the  petty  towns  and 
serais  were  deserted  at  our  approach."  A  cold-blooded 
treachery  was  the  established  policy  of  the  authorities. 
Princes  were  betrayed  into  war  with  each  other ;  and  one  of 
them  having  been  helped  to  overcome  his  antagonist,  was 
then  himself  dethroned  for  some  alleged  misdemeanor. 
Always  some  muddied  stream  was  at  hand  as  a  pretext  for 
official  wolves.  Dependent  chiefs  holding  coveted  lands 
were  impoverished  by  exorbitant  demands  for  tribute ;  and 
their  ultimate  inability  to  meet  these  demands  was  construed 
into  a  treasonable  offence,  punished  by  deposition.  Even 
down  to  our  own  day  kindred  iniquities  are  continued.* 
Down  to  our  own  day,  too,  are  continued  the  grievous  salt- 
monopoly,  and  the  pitiless  taxation  which  wrings  from  the 
poor  ryots  nearly  half  the  produce  of  the  soil.  Down  to  our 
own  day  continues  the  cunning  despotism  which  uses  native 
soldiers  to  maintain  and  extend  native  subjection — a  despot- 
ism under  which,  not  many  years  since,  a  regiment  of  sepoys 
was  deliberately  massacred  for  refusing  to  march  without 
proper  clothing,  Down  to  our  own  day  the  police  authorities 
league  witli  wealthy  scamps,  and  allow  the  machinery  of  the 
law  to  be  used  for  purposes  of  extortion.  Down  to  our  own 
day,  so-called  gentlemen  will  ride  their  elephants  through 
the  crops  of  impoverished  peasants;  and  will  supply  them- 
selves with  provisions  from  the  native  villages  without  pay- 
ing for  them.  And  down  to  our  own  day,  it  is  common  with 
the  people  in  the  interior  to  run  into  the  woods  at  sight  of  a 
European ! 

No  one  can  fail  to  see  that  these  cruelties,  these  treacheries, 
these  deeds  of  blood  and  rapine,  for  which  European  nations 

*  See  Sir  Alexander  Burns'  despatches. 


198  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

in  general  have  to  blush,  are  mainly  due  to  the  carrying  on 
of  colonization  under  State-management,  and  with  the  help  of 
State-funds  and  State-force.  It  is  quite  needless  to  point  to 
the  recent  affair  at  Wairau  in  New  Zealand,  or  to  the  Kaffir 
war,  or  to  our  perpetual  aggressions  in  the  East,  or  to  colonial 
history  at  large,  in  proof  of  this,  for  the  fact  is  self-evident. 
A  schoolboy,  made  overbearing  by  the  consciousness  that 
there  is  always  a  big  brother  to  take  his  part,  typifies  the 
colonist,  who  sees  in  his  mother-country  a  bully  ever  ready 
to  back  and  defend  him.  Unprotected  emigrants,  landing 
among  a  strange  race,  and  feeling  themselves  the  weaker 
party,  are  tolerably  certain  to  behave  well ;  and  a  community 
of  them  is  likely  to  grow  up  in  amicable  relationship  with 
the  natives.  But  let  these  emigrants  be  followed  by  regi- 
ments of  soldiers — let  them  have  a  fort  built  and  cannons 
mounted — let  them  feel  that  they  have  the  upper  hand ;  and 
they  will  no  longer  be  the  same  men.  A  brutality  will  come 
out  which  the  discipline  of  civilized  life  had  kept  under ;  and 
not  unf  requently  they  will  prove  more  vicious  than  they  even 
knew  themselves  to  be.  Various  evil  influences  conspire 
with  their  own  bad  propensities.  The  military  force  guard- 
ing them  has  a  strong  motive  to  foment  quarrels ;  for  war 
promises  prize-money.  To  the  civil  officials,  conquest  holds 
out  a  prospect  of  more  berths  and  quicker  promotion — a  fact 
which  must  bias  them  in  favour  of  it.  Thus  an  aggressive 
tendency  is  encouraged  in  all,  and  betrays  colonists  into 
those  atrocities  that  disgrace  civilization. 

As  though  to  round  off  the  argument,  history  gives  proof 
that  while  Government-colonization  is  accompanied  by  end- 
less miseries  and  abominations,  colonization  naturally  carried 
on  is  free  from  these.  To  William  Penn  belongs  the  honour 
of  having  shown  men  that  the  kindness,  justice,  and  truth  of 
its  inhabitants,  are  better  safeguards  to  a  colony  than  troops 
and  fortifications  and  the  bravery  of  governors.  In  all  points 
Pennsylvania  illustrates  the  equitable,  as  contrasted  with  the 


GOVERNMENT  COLONIZATION.  199 

inequitable,  mode  of  colonizing.  It  was  founded  not  by 
the  State  but  by  private  individuals.  It  needed  no  mother- 
country  protection,  for  it  committed  no  breaches  of  the  moral 
law.  Its  treaty  with  the  Indians,  described  as  "  the  only  one 
ever  concluded  which  was  not  ratified  by  an  oath,  and  the 
only  one  that  was  never  broken,"  served  it  in  better  stead 
than  any  garrison.  For  the  seventy  years  during  which  the 
Quakers  retained  the  chief  power,  it  enjoyed  an  immunity 
from  that  border  warfare,  with  its  concomitant  losses,  and 
fears,  and  bloodshed,  to  which  other  settlements  were  subject. 
Contrariwise,  its  people  maintained  a  friendly  and  mutually- 
beneficial  intercourse  with  the  natives ;  and,  as  a  natural  con- 
sequence of  complete  security,  made  unusually  rapid  progress 
in  material  prosperity. 

That  a  like  policy  would  have  been  similarly  advanta- 
geous in  other  cases,  may  reasonably  be  inferred.  No  one  can 
doubt,  for  instance,  that  had  the  East  India  Company  been 
denied  military  aid  and  State-conferred  privileges,  both  its 
own  affairs,  and  the  affairs  of  Hindostan,  would  have  been 
in  a  far  better  condition  than  they  now  are.  Insane  longing 
for  empire  would  never  have  burdened  the  Company  with 
the  enormous  debt  which  paralyzes  it.  The  energy  per- 
petually expended  in  aggressive  wars  would  have  been  em- 
ployed in  developing  the  resources  of  the  country.  And 
had  the  settlers  thus  turned  their  attention  wholly  to  com- 
merce, and  conducted  themselves  peaceably,  as  their  defence- 
less state  would  have  compelled  them  to  do,  England  would 
have  been  better  supplied  with  raw  materials  and  the  markets 
for  her  goods  would  have  enlarged. 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION. 

THE  current  ideas  respecting  legislative  interference  in 
sanitary  matters,  do  not  seem  to  have  taken  the  form  of  a 
definite  theory.  The  Eastern  Medical  Association  of  Scot- 
land does  indeed  hold  "  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to 
adopt  measures  for  protecting  the  health  as  well  as  the  prop- 
erty of  its  subjects;"  and  The  Times  lately  asserted  that 
"the  Privy  Council  is  chargeable  with  the  health  of  the 
Empire ; "  *  but  no  considerable  political  party  has  adopted 
either  of  these  dogmas  by  way  of  a  distinct  confession  of 
faith. 

That  it  comes  within  the  proper  sphere  of  government  to 
repress  nuisances  is  evident.  He  who  contaminates  the  at- 
mosphere breathed  by  his  neighbour,  is  infringing  his  neigh- 
bour's rights.  Men  having  equal  claims  to  the  free  use  of 
the  elements,  and  having  that  exercise  more  or  less  limited 
by  whatever  makes  the  elements  more  or  less  unusable,  are 
obviously  trespassed  against  by  any  one  who  unnecessarily 
vitiates  the  elements,  and  renders  them  detrimental  to  health, 
or  disagreeable  to  the  senses;  and  in  the  discharge  of  its 
function  as  protector,  a  government  is  called  upon  to  afford 
redress  to  those  so  trespassed  against. 

Beyond  this,  however,  it  cannot  lawfully  go.  As  already 
shown  in  several  kindred  cases,  for  a  government  to  take 
from  a  citizen  more  property  than  is  needful  for  the  efficient 

*  See  The  Times,  Oct.  17,  1848. 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION.  201 

defence  of  that  citizen's  rights,  is  to  infringe  his  rights.  And 
hence  all  taxation  for  sanitary  superintendence  coming,  as  it 
does,  within  this  category,  must  be  condemned. 

The  theory  which  Boards  of  Health  and  the  like  imply, 
is  not  only  inconsistent  with  our  definition  of  State-duty,  but 
is  open  to  strictures  similar  to  those  made  in  analogous  cases. 
If,  by  saying  "  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to  adopt  meas- 
ures for  protecting  the  health  of  its  subjects,"  it  is  meant  (as 
it  is  meant  by  the  majority  of  the  medical  profession)  that 
the  State  should  interpose  between  quacks  and  those  who 
patronize  them,  or  between  the  druggist  and  the  artizan  who 
wants  a  remedy  for  his  cold — if  it  is  meant  that  to  guard 
people  against  empirical  treatment,  the  State  should  forbid 
all  unlicensed  persons  from  prescribing ;  then  the  reply  is, 
that  to  do  so  is  directly  to  violate  the  moral  law.  Men's 
rights  are  infringed  by  these,  as  much  as  by  all  other,  trade- 
interferences.  The  invalid  is  at  liberty  to  buy  medicine  and 
advice  from  whomsoever  he  pleases ;  the  unlicensed  practi- 
tioner is  at  liberty  to  sell  these  to  whosoever  will  buy.  On 
no  pretext  can  a  barrier  be  set  up  between  the  two,  without 
the  law  of  equal  freedom  being  broken ;  and  least  of  all  may 
the  Government,  whose  office  it  is  to  uphold  that  law,  become 
a  transgressor  of  it. 

Moreover  this  doctrine,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to 
protect  the  health  of  its  subjects,  cannot  be  established,  for 
the  same  reason  that  its  kindred  doctrines  cannot,  namely, 
the  impossibility  of  saying  how  far  the  alleged  duty  shall  be 
carried.  Health  depends  on  the  fulfilment  of  numerous  con- 
ditions— can  be  "  protected  "  only  by  insuring  that  fulfilment. 
If,  therefore,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to  protect  the  health 
of  its  subjects,  it  is  its  duty  to  see  that  all  the  conditions  to 
health  are  fulfilled  by  them.  The  legislature  must  prescribe 
so  many  meals  a  day  for  each  individual ;  fix  the  quantities 
and  qualities  of  food  for  men,  women  and  children ;  state 
the  proportion  of  fluids,  when  to  be  taken,  and  of  what  kind ; 


202  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

specify  the  amount  of  exercise,  and  define  its  character ;  de- 
scribe the  clothing  to  be  employed  ;  determine  the  hours  of 
sleep ;  and  to  enforce  these  regulations  it  must  employ  offi- 
cials to  oversee  every  one's  domestic  arrangements.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  universal  supervision  of  private  conduct  is 
not  meant,  then  there  comes  the  question — Where,  between 
this  and  no  supervision  at  all,  lies  the  boundary  up  to  which 
supervision  is  a  duty  2 

There  is  a  manifest  analogy  between  committing  to  Gov- 
ernment-guardianship the  physical  health  of  the  people,  and 
committing  to  it  their  moral  health.  If  the  welfare  of  men's 
souls  can  be  fitly  dealt  with  by  acts  of  parliament,  why  then 
the  welfare  of  their  bodies  can  be  fitly  dealt  with  likewise. 
The  disinfecting  society  from  vice  may  naturally  be  cited 
as  a  precedent  for  disinfecting  it  from  pestilence.  Purify- 
ing the  haunts  of  men  from  noxious  vapours  may  be  held 
quite  as  legitimate  as  purifying  their  moral  atmosphere.  The 
fear  that  false  doctrines  may  be  instilled  by  unauthorized 
preachers,  has  its  analogue  in  the  fear  that  unauthorized 
practitioners  may  give  deleterious  medicines  or  advice.  And 
the  prosecutions  once  committed  to  prevent  the  one  evil, 
countenance  the  penalties  used  to  put  down  the  other. 
Contrariwise,  the  arguments  employed  by  the  dissenter  to 
show  that  the  moral  sanity  of  the  people  is  not  a  matter  for 
State-superintendence,  are  applicable,  with  a  slight  change  of 
terms,  to  their  physical  sanity  also. 

Let  no  one  think  this  analogy  imaginary.  The  two  notions 
are  not  only  theoretically  related ;  we  have  facts  proving 
that  they  tend  to  embody  themselves  in  similar  institutions. 
There  is  an  inclination  on  the  part  of  the  medical  profession 
to  get  itself  organized  after  the  fashion  of  the  clergy.  Little 
do  the  public  at  large  know  how  actively  professional  publi- 
cations are  agitating  for  State-appointed  overseers  of  the  pub- 
lic health.  Take  up  the  Lancet,  and  you  will  find  articles 
written  to  show  the  necessity  of  making  poor-law  medical 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION.  203 

officers  independent  of  Boards  of  Guardians,  by  appointing 
them  for  life,  holding  them  responsible  only  to  central 
authority,  and  giving  them  handsome  salaries  from  the  Con- 
solidated Fund.  The  Journal  of  Public  Health  proposes  that 
"every  house  on  becoming  vacant  be  examined  by  a  com- 
petent person  as  to  its  being  in  a  condition  adapted  for  the 
safe  dwelling  in  of  the  future  tenants  ; "  and  to  this  end  would 
raise  by  fees,  chargeable  on  the  landlords,  "a  revenue  adequate 
to  pay  a  sufficient  staff  of  inspectors  four  or  five  hundred 
pounds  a  year  each."  A  non-professional  publication,  echo- 
ing the  appeal,  says — "  No  reasonable  men  can  doubt  that  if 
a  proper  system  of  ventilation  were  rendered  imperative  upon 
landlords,  not  only  would  the  cholera  and  other  epidemic 
diseases  be  checked,  but  the  general  standard  of  health  would 
be  raised."  While  the  Medical  Times  shows  its  leanings  by 
announcing,  with  marked  approbation,  that  "the  Ottoman 
Government  has  recently  published  a  decree  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  physicians  to  be  paid  by  the  State,"  who  "  are  bound 
to  treat  gratuitously  all — both  rich  and  poor — who  shall  de- 
mand advice." 

The  most  specious  excuse  for  not  extending  to  medical 
advice  the  principles  of  free  trade,  is  the  same  as  that  given 
for  not  leaving  education  to  be  diffused  under  them ;  namely, 
that  the  judgment  of  the  consumer  is  not  a  sufficient  guaran- 
tee for  the  goodness  of  the  commodity.  The  intolerance 
shown  by  orthodox  surgeons  and  physicians  towards  unor- 
dained  followers  of  their  calling,  is  to  be  understood  as  aris- 
ing from  a  desire  to  defend  the  public  against  quackery. 
Ignorant  people,  say  they,  cannot  distinguish  good  treatment 
from  bad,  or  skilful  advisers  from  unskilful  ones  :  hence  it -is 
needful  that  the  choice  should  be  made  for  them.  And  then, 
following  in  the  track  of  priesthoods,  for  whose  persecutions 
a  similar  defence  has  always  been  set  up,  they  agitate  for 
more  stringent  regulations  against  unlicensed  practitioners, 
and  descant  upon  the  dangers  to  which  men  are  exposed  by 


204  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

an  unrestricted  system.  Hear  Mr.  "Wakley.  Speaking  of  a 
recently-revived  law  relating  to  chemists  and  druggists,  he 
says, — "  It  must  have  the  effect  of  checking,  to  a  vast  extent, 
that  frightful  evil  called  counter-practice,  exercised  by  un- 
qualified persons,  which  has  so  long  been  a  disgrace  to  the 
operation  of  the  laws  relating  to  medicine  in  this  country, 
and  which,  doubtless,  has  been  attended  with  a  dreadful  sacri- 
fice of  human  life."  (Lancet,  Sept.  11,  1841.)  And  again, 
"There  is  not  a  chemist  and  druggist  in  the  empire  who 
would  refuse  to  prescribe  in  his  own  shop  in  medical  cases, 
or  who  would  hesitate  day  by  day  to  prescribe  simple  reme- 
dies for  the  ailments  of  infants  and  children."  .  .  .  "We 
had  previously  considered  the  evil  to  be  of  enormous  magni- 
tude, but  it  is  quite  clear  that  we  had  under-estimated  the 
extent  of  the  danger  to  which  the  public  are  exposed."  (Lan- 
cet, Oct.  16,  1841.) 

Any  one  may  discern  through  these  ludicrous  exaggera- 
tions much  more  of  the  partizan  than  of  the  philanthropist. 
But  let  that  pass.  And  without  dwelling  upon  the  fact  that 
it  is  strange  a  "  dreadful  sacrifice  of  human  life  "  should  not 
have  drawn  the  attention  of  the  people  themselves  to  this 
"frightful  evil," — without  doing  more  than  glance  at  the 
further  fact,  that  nothing  is  said  of  those  benefits  conferred 
by  "  counter  practice,"  which  would  at  least  form  a  consider- 
able set  off  against  this  "evil  of  enormous  magnitude;"  let 
it  be  conceded  that  very  many  of  the  poorer  class  are 
injured  by  druggists'  prescriptions  and  quack  medicines.* 
The  allegation  having  been  thus,  for  argument's  sake,  ad- 
mitted in  full,  let  us  now  consider  whether  it  constitutes  a 
sufficient  plea  for  legal  interference. 

Inconvenience,  suffering,  and  death,  are  the  penalties 
attached  by  Nature  to  ignorance,  as  well  as  to  incompetence 
— are  also  the  means  of  remedying  these.  Partly  by  weed- 

*  The  infliction  of  such  injuries  is  not  peculiar  to  quacks.  During  the 
last  four  years  (I  add  this  note  in  1890)  I  have  had  occasion  to  consult 
seven  medical  men,  and  six  out  of  the  seven  did  me  harm  I 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION.  205 

ing  out  those  of  lowest  development,  and  partly  by  sub- 
jecting those  who  remain  to  ths  never-ceasing  discipline 
of  experience,  Nature  secures  the  growth  of  a  race  who 
shall  both  understand  the  conditions  of  existence,  and  be 
able  to  act  up  to  them.  It  is  impossible  in  any  degree  to 
suspend  this  discipline  by  stepping  in  between  ignorance  and 
its  consequences,  without,  to  a  corresponding  degree,  suspend- 
ing the  progress.  If  to  be  ignorant  were  as  safe  as  to  be  wise, 
no  one  would  become  wise.  And  all  measures  which  tend  to 
put  ignorance  upon  a  par  with  wisdom,  inevitably  check  the 
growth  of  wisdom.  Acts  of  parliament  to  save  silly  people 
from  the  evils  which  putting  faith  in  empirics  may  entail  on 
them,  do  this,  and  are  therefore  bad.  It  is  best  to  let  the 
foolish  man  suffer  the  penalty  of  his  foolishness.  For  the 
pain — he  must  bear  it  as  well  as  he  can  :  for  the  experience 
—he  must  treasure  it  up,  and  act  more  rationally  in  future. 
To  others  as  well  as  to  himself  will  his  case  be  a  warning. 
And  by  multiplication  of  such  warnings,  there  cannot  fail 
to  be  generated  a  caution  corresponding  to  the  danger  to  be 
shunned. 

A  sad  population  of  imbeciles  would  our  schemers  fill  the 
world  with,  could  their  plans  last.  A  sorry  kind  of  human 
constitution  would  they  make  for  us — a  constitution  con- 
tinually going  wrong,  and  needing  to  be  set  right  again — 
a  constitution  ever  tending  to  self-destruction.  Why  the 
whole  effort  of  Nature  is  to  get  rid  of  such — to  clear  the 
world  of  them,  and  make  room  for  better.  Mark  how  the 
diseased  are  dealt  with.  Consumptive  patients,  with  lungs 
incompetent  to  perform  the  duties  of  lungs,  people  with  di- 
gestive organs  that  will  not  take  up  enough  nutriment, 
people  with  defective  hearts  which  break  down  under  effort, 
people  with  any  constitutional  flaw  preventing  due  fulfilment 
of  the  conditions  of  life,  are  continually  dying  out,  and  leav- 
ing behind  those  fit  for  the  climate,  food,  and  habits  to  which 
they  are  born.  Even  the  less-imperfectly  organized  who, 

under  ordinary  circumstances,  manage  to  live  with  comfort, 
14 


206  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

are  still  the  first  to  be  carried  off  by  adverse  influences  ;  and 
only  such  as  are  robust  enough  to  resist  these — that  is,  only 
such  as  are  tolerably  well  adapted  to  both  the  usual  and 
incidental  necessities  of  existence,  remain.  And  thus  is  the 
race  kept  free  from  vitiation.  Of  course  this  statement  is 
in  substance  a  truism ;  for  no  other  arrangement  of  things  is 
conceivable.  But  it  is  a  truism  to  which  most  men  pay  little 
regard.  And  if  they  commonly  overlook  its  application  to 
body,  still  less  do  they  note  its  bearing  upon  mind.  Yet  it  is 
equally  true  here.  Nature  just  as  much  insists  on  fitness 
between  mental  character  and  circumstances,  as  between 
physical  character  and  circumstances ;  and  radical  defects  are 
as  much  causes  of  death  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  He 
on  whom  his  own  stupidity,  or  vice,  or  idleness,  entails  loss 
of  life,  must,  in  the  generalizations  of  philosophy,  be  classed 
with  the  victims  of  weak  viscera  or  malformed  limbs.  In  his 
case,  as  in  the  others,  there  exists  a  fatal  non-adaptation ; 
and  it  matters  not  in  the  abstract  whether  it  be  a  moral,  an 
intellectual,  or  a  corporeal  one.  Beings  thus  imperfect  are 
Nature's  failures,  and  are  recalled  by  her  when  found  to 
be  such.  Along  with  the  rest  they  are  put  upon  trial.  If 
they  are  sufficiently  complete  to  live,  they  do  live,  and  it  is 
well  they  should  live.  If  they  are  not  sufficiently  complete 
to  live,  they  die,  and  it  is  best  they  should  die.  And  how- 
ever irregular  the  action  of  this  law  may  appear — however  it 
may  seem  that  much  chaff  is  left  behind  which  should  be 
winnowed  out,  and  that  much  grain  is  taken  away  which 
should  be  left  behind ;  yet  due  consideration  must  satisfy 
every  one  that  the  average  effect  is  to  purify  society  from 
those  -who  are,  in  some  respect  or  other,  essentially  faulty. 

Of  course,  in  so  far  as  the  severity  of  this  process  is  miti- 
gated by  the  spontaneous  sympathy  of  men  for  one  another, 
it  is  proper  that  it  should  be  mitigated  :  albeit  there  is  un- 
questionably harm  done  when  sympathy  is  shown,  without 
any  regard  to  ultimate  results.  But  the  drawbacks  hence 
arising  are  nothing  like  commensurate  with  the  benefits 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION.  207 

otherwise  conferred.  Only  when  this  sympathy  prompts  to 
a  breach  of  equity — only  when  it  originates  an  interference 
forbidden  by  the  law  of  equal  freedom — only  when,  by  so 
doing,  it  suspends  in  some  particular  department  of  life  the 
relationship  between  constitution  and  conditions,  does  it  work 
pure  evil.  Then,  however,  it  defeats  its  own  end.  It  favours 
the  multiplication  of  those  worst  fitted  for  existence,  and,  by 
consequence,  hinders  the  multiplication  of  those  best  fitted 
for  existence — leaving,  as  it  does,  less  room  for  them.  It 
tends  to  fill  the  world  with  those  to  whom  life  will  bring 
most  pain,  and  tends  to  keep  out  of  it  those  to  whom  life 
will  bring  most  pleasure.  It  inflicts  positive  misery,  and 
prevents  positive  happiness. 

Turning  now  to  consider  these  impatiently-agitated 
schemes  for  improving  our  sanitary  condition  by  act  of 
parliament,  the  first  criticism  to  be  passed  on  them  is  that 
they  are  needless,  inasmuch  as  there  are  already  efficient  in- 
fluences at  work  gradually  accomplishing  every  desideratum. 

Seeing,  as  do  the  philanthropic  of  our  day,  like  the  con- 
genitally  blind  to  whom  sight  has  just  been  given,  they  form 
very  crude  and  very  exaggerated  notions  of  the  evils  to  be 
dealt  with.  Some,  anxious  for  the  enlightenment  of  their 
fellows,  collect  statistics  exhibiting  a  lamentable  amount  of 
ignorance ;  publish  these ;  and  the  lovers  of  their  kind  are 
startled.  Others  dive  into  the  dens  where  poverty  hides  it- 
self, and  shock  the  world  with  descriptions  of  what  they  see. 
Others,  again,  gather  together  information  respecting  crime, 
and  make  the  benevolent  look  grave  by  their  disclosures. 
"Whereupon,  in  horror  at  these  revelations,  men  keep  thought- 
lessly assuming  that  the  evils  have  lately  become  greater, 
when  in  reality  it  is  they  who  have  become  more  observant 
of  them.  If  few  complaints  have  hitherto  been  heard  about 
crime,  and  ignorance,  and  misery,  it  is  not  that  in  times  past 
these  were  less  widely  spread,  for  the  contrary  is  the  fact ; 
but  it  is  that  our  forefathers  thought  little  about  them,  and 


208  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

said  little  about  them.  Overlooking  which  circumstance,  and 
forgetting  that  social  evils  have  been  undergoing  a  gradual 
amelioration,  many  entertain  a  needless  alarm  lest  fearful 
consequences  should  ensue,  if  these  evils  are  not  immediately 
remedied,  and  a  visionary  hope  that  immediate  remedy  of 
them  is  possible. 

Such  are  the  now  prevalent  feelings  relative  to  sanitary 
reform.  We  have  had  a  multitude  of  blue-books,  Board  of 
Health  reports,  leading  articles,  pamphlets,  and  lectures,  de- 
scriptive of  bad  drainage,  overflowing  cesspools,  festering 
graveyards,  impure  water,  and  the  filthiness  and  humidity  of 
low  lodging  houses.  The  facts  thus  published  are  thought 
to  warrant,  or  rather  to  demand,  legislative  interference.  It 
seems  never  to  be  asked,  whether  any  corrective  process  is 
going  on.  Although  the  rate  of  mortality  has  been  gradu- 
ally decreasing,  and  the  value  of  life  is  higher  in  England 
than  elsewhere — although  the  cleanliness  of  our  towns  is 
greater  now  than  ever  before,  and  our  spontaneously-grown 
sanitary  arrangements  are  far  better  than  those  existing  on 
the  Continent,  where  the  stinks  of  Cologne,  the  uncovered 
drains  of  Paris,  the  water-tubs  of  Berlin,*  and  the  miserable 
footways  of  the  German  towns,  show  what  State-management 
effects;  yet  it  is  perversely  assumed  that  by  State-manage- 
ment only  can  the  remaining  impediments  to  public  health 
be  removed.  Surely  the  causes  which  have  brought  the 
sewage,  the  paving  and  lighting,  and  the  water-supply  of 
our  towns,  to  the  present  state,  have  not  suddenly  ceased. 
Surely  that  amelioration  which  has  been  taking  place  in  the 
condition  of  London  for  these  two  or  three  centuries,  may 
be  expected  to  continue.  Surely  the  public  spirit  which  has 
carried  out  so  many  urban  improvements  since  the  Municipal 
Corporations  Act  gave  greater  facilities,  can  carry  out  other 
improvements.  One  would  have  thought  that  less  excuse  for 

*  For  putting  out  fires  in  Berlin  they  depend  on  open  tubs  of  water 
that  stand  about  the  city  at  certain  points,  ready  to  be  dragged  where  they 
are  wanted.  [Since  1850  an  English  firm  has  changed  all  this.] 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION.  209 

meddling  existed  now  than  ever.  Now  that  so  much  has 
been  effected  ;  now  that  the  laws  of  health  are  beginning  to 
be  generally  studied ;  now  that  people  are  reforming  their 
habits  of  living;  now  that  the  use  of  baths  is  spreading; 
now  that  temperance,  and  ventilation,  and  due  exercise  are 
getting  thought  about — to  interfere  now,  of  all  times,  is  surely 
as  rash  and  uncalled-for  a  step  as  was  ever  taken. 

And  then  to  think  that,  in  their  haste  to  obtain  by  law 
healthier  homes  for  the  masses,  men  should  not  see  that  the 
natural  process  already  commenced  is  the  only  process  which 
can  eventually  succeed.  The  Metropolitan  Association  for 
improving  the  Dwellings  of  the  Labouring  Classes  is  doing 
all  that  is  possible  in  the  matter.  It  is  endeavouring  to  show 
that,  under  judicious  management,  the  building  of  salubrious 
habitations  for  the  poor  becomes  a  profitable  employment  of 
capital.  If  it  shows  this,  it  will  do  all  that  needs  to  be  done ; 
for  capital  will  quickly  flow  into  investments  offering  good 
returns.  If  it  does  not  show  this — if,  after  due  trial,  it  finds 
that  these  Model  Lodging  Houses  do  not  pay,  then  Acts  of 
Parliament  will  not  improve  matters.*  These  plans  for 
making  good  ventilation  imperative;  insisting  upon  water- 
supply,  and  fixing  the  price  for  it,  as  Lord  Morpeth's  Bill 
would  have  done ;  having  empty  houses  cleansed  before  re- 
occupation,  and  charging  the  owners  of  them  for  inspection 
— these  plans  for  coercing  landlords  into  giving  additional 
advantages  for  the  same  money  are  nothing  but  repetitions 
of  the  old  proposal,  that  "  the  three-hooped  pot  shall  have 
ten  hoops,"  and  are  just  as  incapable  of  realization.  The 
first  result  of  an  attempt  to  carry  them  out  would  be  a  dim- 
inution of  the  profits  of  house-owners.  The  interest  on 

*  I  ought  to  have  said  that  Acts  of  Parliament  can  remove  the  evils 
oon.plained  of  only  by  inflicting  other  evils ;  but  at  that  time  no  one 
dreamed  that  the  advance  of  Socialism  would  be  so  rapid  that  in  40  years 
municipal  governments  would  make  rate-payers  pay  part  of  the  rents  of 
working-class  houses ;  for  this  is  what  is  done  when  by  public  funds  they 
are  supplied  with  better  houses  than  they  would  otherwise  have. 


210  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

capital  invested  in  houses  no  longer  being  so  high,  capital 
would  seek  other  investments.  The  building  of  houses 
would  cease  to  keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  population. 
Hence  would  arise  a  gradual  increase  in  the  number  of  occu- 
pants to  each  house.  And  this  change  in  the  ratio  of  houses 
to  people  would  continue  until  the  demand  for  houses  had 
raised  the  profits  of  the  landlord  to  what  they  were,  and 
until,  by  overcrowding,  new  sanitary  evils  had  been  produced 
to  parallel  the  old  ones.*  If,  by  building  in  larger  masses 

*  Such  results  have  actually  been  brought  about  by  the  Metropolitan 
Buildings  Act.  While  this  Act  has  introduced  some  reform  in  the  better 
class  of  houses  (although  to  nothing  like  the  expected  extent,  for  the  sur- 
veyors are  bribed,  and  moreover  the  fees  claimed  by  them  for  inspecting 
every  trifling  alteration  operate  as  penalties  on  improvement),  it  has  en- 
tailed far  more  evil,  just  where  it  was  intended  to  confer  benefit.  An  archi- 
tect and  surveyor  describes  it  as  having  worked  after  the  following  man- 
ner. In  those  districts  of  London  consisting  of  inferior  houses,  built  in 
that  insubstantial  fashion  which  the  New  Buildings  Act  was  to  mend, 
there  obtains  an  average  rent,  sufficiently  remunerative  to  landlords  whose 
houses  were  run  up  economically  before  the  New  Buildings  Act  passed. 
This  existing  average  rent  fixes  the  rent  that  must  be  charged  in  these 
districts  for  new  houses  of  the  same  accommodation — that  is,  the  same 
number  of  rooms,  for  the  people  they  are  built  for  do  not  appreciate  the 
extra  safety  of  living  within  walls  strengthened  with  hoop-iron  bond. 
Now  it  turns  out  upon  trial,  that  houses  built  in  accordance  with  the  pres- 
ent regulations,  and  let  at  this  established  rate,  bring  in  nothing  like  a 
reasonable  return.  Builders  have  consequently  confined  themselves  to 
erecting  houses  in  better  districts  (where  the  possibility  of  a  profitable  com- 
petition with  pre-existing  houses  shows  that  those  pre-existing  houses  were 
tolerably  substantial),  and  have  ceased  to  erect  dwellings  for  the  masses, 
except  in  the  suburbs  where  no  pressing  sanitary  evils  exist.  Meanwhile, 
in  the  inferior  districts  above  described,  there  has  resulted  an  increase  of 
overcrowding — half-a-dozen  families  in  a  house — a  score  lodgers  to  a  room. 
Nay,  more  than  this  has  resulted.  That  state  of  miserable  delapidation 
into  which  these  abodes  of  the  poor  are  allowed  to  fall,  is  due  to  the  ab- 
sence of  competition  from  new  houses.  Landlords  do  not  find  their  tenants 
tempted  away  by  the  offer  of  better  accommodation.  Repairs  being  un- 
necessary for  securing  the  largest  amount  of  profit,  are  not  made.  And 
the  fees  demanded  by  the  surveyor,  even  when  an  additional  chimney-pot 
is  put  up,  supply  ready  excuses  for  doing  nothing.  Thus,  while  the  New 
Buildings  Act  has  caused  some  improvement  where  improvement  was  not 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION.  211 

and  to  a  greater  height,  such  an  economy  can  be  achieved  in 
ground-rent,  the  cost  of  outer  walls,  and  of  roofing,  as  to 
give  more  accommodation  at  the  same  expense  as  now  (which 
happily  seems  probable) ;  then  the  fact  only  needs  proving, 
and,  as  before  said,  the  competition  of  capital  for  investment 
will  do  all  that  can  be  done  ;  but  if  not,  the  belief  that  legis- 
lative coercion  can  make  things  better  is  a  fit  companion  to 
the  belief  that  it  can  fix  the  price  of  bread  and  the  rate  of 
wages. 

Let  those  who  are  anxious  to  improve  the  health  of  the 
poor,  through  the  indirect  machinery  of  law,  bring  their  zeal 
to  bear  directly  upon  the  work  to  be  done.  Let  them  appeal 
to  men's  sympathies,  and  again  to  their  interests.  Let  them 
show  that  the  productive  powers  of  the  labourer  will  be  in- 
creased by  bettering  his  health,  while  the  poors' -rates  will 
be  diminished.  Above  all,  let  them  demand  the  removal  of 
those  obstacles  which  existing  legislation  puts  in  the  way  of 
sanitary  improvement.*  Their  efforts  thus  directed  will 

greatly  needed,  it  has  caused  none  where  it  was  needed,  but  has  instead 
generated  evils  worse  than  those  it  was  to  remove.  In  fact,  for  a  large 
percentage  of  the  very  horrors  which  our  sanitary  agitators  are  now  try- 
ing to  cure  by  law,  we  have  to  thank  previous  agitators  of  the  same 
school. 

*  Writing  before  the  repeal  of  the  brick-duty,  the  Builder  says — "  It  is 
supposed  that  one-fourth  of  the  cost  of  a  dwelling  which  lets  for  2s.  Qd.  or 
3s.  a  week  is  caused  by  the  expense  of  the  title-deeds  and  the  tax  on  wood 
and  bricks  used  in  its  construction.  Of  course  the  owner  of  such  property 
must  be  remunerated,  and  he  therefore  charges  l^d.  or  Qd.  a  week  to  cover 
those  burdens."  Mr.  C.  Gatliff,  secretary  to  the  Society  for  Improving  the 
Dwellings  of  the  Working  Classes,  describing  the  effect  of  the  window-tax 
says — "  They  are  now  paying  upon  their  institution  in  St.  Pancras,  the 
sum  of  £1G2  IGs.  in  window  duties,  or  1  per  cent,  per  annum  upon  the 
original  outlay.  The  average  rental  paid  by  the  Society's  tenants  is  5s.  Gd. 
per  week,  and  the  window-duty  deducts  from  this  1±d.  per  week." — Depu- 
tation to  Lord  Ashley,  see  The  Times,  Jan.  31,  1850.  Mr.  W.  Voller,  a 
master-tailor,  says — "  I  lately  inserted  one  of  Dr.  Arnott's  ventilators  in  the 
chimney  of  the  workshop,  little  thinking  I  should  be  called  upon  by  Mr. 
Badger,  our  district  surveyor,  for  a  fee  of  25s."— Morning  Chronicle,  Feb. 
4, 1850. 


212  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

really  promote  progress.     "Whereas  their  efforts  as  now  di- 
rected are  either  needless  or  injurious. 

It  is  in  this  case,  as  in  many  others,  the  peculiarity  of 
what  are  oddly  styled  "  practical  measures,"  that  they  super- 
sede agencies  which  are  answering  well  by  agencies  which 
are  not  likely  to  answer  well.  Here  is  a  heavy  charge  of 
inefficiency  brought  against  the  drains,  cesspools,  stink-traps, 
&c.,  of  England  in  general  and  London  in  particular.  The 
evidence  is  voluminous  and  conclusive,  and  by  common  con- 
sent a  verdict  of  proven  is  returned.  Citizens  look  grave 
and  determine  to  petition  Parliament  about  it.  Parliament 
promises  to  consider  the  matter ;  and  after  the  usual  amount 
of  debate,  says — "  Let  there  be  a  Board  of  Health."  "Where- 
upon petitioners  rub  their  hands,  and  look  out  for  great 
things.  They  have  unbounded  simplicity — these  good 
citizens.  Legislation  may  disappoint  them  fifty  times  run- 
ning, without  at  all  shaking  their  faith  in  its  efficiency. 
They  hoped  that  Church  abuses  would  be  rectified  by  the 
Ecclesiastical  Commission :  the  poor  curates  can  say  whether 
that  hope  has  been  realized. ;  Backed  by  an  Act  of  Parliament 
the  Poor-Law  Commissioners  were  to  have  eradicated  able- 
bodied  pauperism :  yet,  until  checked  by  the  recent  prosperity, 
the  poors'-rates  have  been  rapidly  rising  to  their  old  level. 
The  New  Buildings  Act  was  to  have  given  the  people  of 
London  better  homes ;  whereas,  as  we  lately  saw,  it  has  made 
worse  the  homes  that  most  wanted  improving.  Men  were 
sanguine  of  reforming  criminals  by  the  silent  system,  or  the 
separate  system ;  but,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  disputes  of 
their  respective  advocates,  neither  of  these  plans  is  very 
successful.  Pauper  children  were  to  have  been  made  into 
good  citizens  by  industrial  education ;  from  all  quarters,  how- 
ever, come  statements  that  a  very  large  percentage  of  them 
get  into  gaol,  or  become  prostitutes,  or  return  to  the  work- 
house. The  measures  enjoined  by  the  Vaccination  Act  of 
184:0  were  to  have  exterminated  small-pox ;  but  the  Registrar- 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION.  213 

General's  reports  show  that  the  deaths  from  small-pox  have 
been  increasing.  Yet  scarcely  a  doubt  seems  to  arise  re- 
specting the  competency  of  legislators  to  do  what  they  pro- 
pose. From  the  times  when  they  tried  to  fix  the  value  of 
money  down  to  our  own  day,  when  they  have  just  aban- 
doned the  attempt  to  regulate  the  price  of  corn,  statesmen 
have  been  undertaking  all  kinds  of  things,  from  prescribing 
the  cut  of  boot-toes,  up  to  preparing  people  for  Heaven ;  and 
have  been  constantly  failing.  Nevertheless  such  inex- 
haustible faith  have  men  that,  although  they  see  this,  and 
although  they  are  daily  hearing  of  imbecilities  in  public 
departments — of  Admiralty  Boards  which  squander  three 
millions  a  year  in  building  bad  ships  and  breaking  them  up 
again — of  Woods  and  Forests  Commissioners  who  do  not 
even  know  the  rental  of  the  estates  they  manage — of  bun- 
gling excise-chemists  who  commit  their  chiefs  to  losing  prose- 
cutions, for  which  compensation  has  to  be  made  ;  yet  Govern- 
ment needs  but  to  announce  another  plausible  project,  and 
men  straightway  hurrah,  and  throw  up  their  caps,  in  the  full 
expectation  of  getting  all  that  is  promised. 

But  the  belief  that  Boards  of  Health,  and  the  like,  will 
never  effect  what  is  hoped,  needs  not  wholly  rest  either 
on  abstract  considerations,  or  on  our  experience  of  State- 
instrumentalities  in  general.  We  have  one  of  these  organi- 
zations at  work,  and,  as  far  as  may  be  at  present  judged,  it 
has  done  anything  but  answer  people's  expectations.  To 
condemn  it  because  choked  sewers,  and  open  gully-holes, 
and  filthy  alleys  remain  much  as  they  were,  would,  perhaps, 
be  unreasonable ;  for  time  is  needed  to  rectify  evils  so  widely 
established.  But  there  is  one  test  by  which  we  may  fairly 
estimate  its  efficiency ;  namely,  its  conduct  before  and  during 
the  late  pestilence.  It  had  more  than  a  year's  notice  that  the 
cholera  was  on  its  way  here.  There  were  two  whole  sessions 
of  Parliament  intervening  between  the  time  when  a  second 
invasion  from  that  disease  was  foreseen  and  the  time  when 
the  mortality  was  highest.  The  Board  of  Health  had,  there- 


214  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

fore,  full  opportunity  to  put  forth  its  powers,  and  to  get 
greater  powers  if  it  wanted  them.  Well,  what  was  the  first 
step  which  might  have  been  looked  for  from  it  ?  Shall  we  not 
say  the  suppression  of  intramural  interments  ?  Burying  the 
dead  in  the  midst  of  the  living  was  manifestly  hurtful ;  the 
evils  attendant  on  the  practice  were  universally  recognized ; 
and  to  put  it  down  required  little  more  than  a  simple  exercise 
of  authority.  If  the  Board  of  Health  believed  itself  possessed 
of  authority  sufficient  for  this,  why  did  it  not  use  that 
authority  when  the  advent  of  the  epidemic  was  rumoured? 
If  it  thought  its  authority  not  great  enough  (which  can  hardly 
be,  remembering  what  it  ultimately  did),  then  why  did  it 
not  obtain  more?  Instead  of  taking  either  of  these  steps, 
however,  it  occupied  itself  in  considering  future  modes  of 
water-supply,  and  devising  systems  of  sewage.  "While  the 
cholera  was  approaching,  the  Board  of  Health  was  cogitating 
over  reforms  from  which  the  most  sanguine  could  not 
expect  any  considerable  benefit  for  years  to  come.  And 
then,  when  the  enemy  was  upon  us,  this  guardian  in  which 
men  were  putting  their  trust,  suddenly  bestirred  itself,  and 
did  what,  for  the  time  being,  made  worse  the  evils  to  be 
remedied.  As  was  said  by  a  speaker,  at  one  of  the  medical 
meetings  held  during  the  height  of  the  cholera, "  the  Com- 
missioners of  Public  Health  had  adopted  the  very  means 
likely  to  produce  that  complaint.  Instead  of  taking  their 
measures  years  ago,  they  had  stirred  up  all  sorts  of  abomina- 
tions now.  They  had  removed  dunghills  ^and  cesspools,  and 
added  fuel  tenfold  to  the  fire  that  existed.  (Hear,  hear.) 
Never  since  he  could  recollect  had  there  been  such  accumu- 
lations of  abominable  odours  as  since  the  Health  of  Towns 
Commission  had  attempted  to  purify  the  atmosphere.  (A 
laugh,  and  Hear,  hear.) "  At  length  when,  in  spite  of  all 
that  had  been  done  (or,  perhaps,  partly  in  consequence  of  it), 
the  mortality  continued  to  increase,  the  closing  of  graveyards 
was  decided  upon ;  in  the  hope,  as  we  must  suppose,  that  the 
mortality  would  thereby  be  checked.  As  though,  when  there 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION.  215 

were  hundreds  of  thousands  of  bodies  decomposing,  the 
ceasing  to  add  to  them  would  immediately  produce  an  ap- 
preciable eif  ect ! 

Even  could  State-agency  compass  for  our  towns  the  most 
perfect  salubrity,  it  would  be  in  the  end  better  to  remain  as 
we  are,  rather  than  obtain  such  a  benefit  by  such  means.  It 
is  quite  possible  to  give  too  much  even  for  a  great  desider- 
atum. However  valuable  good  bodily  health  may  be,  it  is 
dearly  purchased  when  mental  health  goes  in  exchange. 
Whoso  thinks  that  Government  can  supply  sanitary  ad- 
vantages for  nothing,  or  at  the  cost  of  more  taxes  only,  is 
woefully  mistaken.  They  must  be  paid  for  with  character 
as  well  as  with  taxes. 

Let  it  be  again  remembered  that  men  cannot  make  force. 
All  they  can  do  is  to  avail  themselves  of  force  already  exist- 
ing, and  employ  it  for  working  out  this  or  that  purpose. 
They  cannot  increase  it ;  they  cannot  get  from  it  more  than 
its  due  effect ;  and  as  much  as  they  expend  of  it  for  doing 
one  thing,  must  they  lack  of  it  for  doing  other  things.  Thus 
it  is  now  becoming  a  received  doctrine,  that  what  we  call 
chemical  affinity,  heat,  light,  electricity,  magnetism,  and 
motion,  are  all  manifestations  of  the  same  primordial  force — 
that  they  are  convertible  into  one  another ;  and,  as  a  corol- 
lary, that  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  in  any  one  form  of  this  force 
more  than  its  equivalent  in  the  previous  form.  Now  this  is 
equally  true  of  the  agencies  acting  in  society.  It  is  quite 
possible  to  divert  the  power  at  present  working  out  one 
result,  to  the  working  out  of  some  other  result.  But  you 
cannot  make  more  of  it,  and  you  cannot  have  it  for  nothing. 
Just  as  much  better  as  this  particular  thing  is  done,  so  much 
worse  must  another  thing  be  done. 

Or,  changing  the  illustration,  and  regarding  society  as  an 
organism,  we  may  say  that  it  is  impossible  artificially  to  use 
up  social  vitality  for  the  more  active  performance  of  one 
function,  without  diminishing  the  activity  with  which  other 


216  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

functions  are  performed.  So  long  as  society  is  let  alone,  its 
various  structures  will  go  on  developing  in  due  subordination 
to  one  another.  If  some  of  them  are  very  imperfect,  and 
make  no  appreciable  progress  towards  efficiency,  it  is  because 
still  more  important  organs  are  equally  imperfect,  and  because 
the  growth  of  these  involves  cessation  of  growth  elsewhere. 
Be  sure,  also,  that  whenever  there  arises  a  special  necessity 
for  the  better  performance  of  any  one  function,  or  for  the 
establishment  of  some  new  function,  Nature  will  respond. 
Instance,  in  proof  of  this,  the  increase  of  particular  manu- 
facturing towns  and  sea -ports,  or  the  formation  of  in- 
corporated companies.  Is  there  a  rising  demand  for  some 
commodity  of  general  consumption  ?  Immediately  the  organ 
secreting  that  commodity  becomes  more  active,  absorbs  more 
people,  begins  to  enlarge,  and  secretes  in  greater  abundance. 
To  interfere  with  this  process  by  producing  premature  de- 
velopment in  any  particular  direction,  is  inevitably  to  disturb 
the  due  balance  of  organization,  by  causing  somewhere  else 
a  corresponding  atrophy.  At  any  given  time  the  amount  of 
a  society's  vital  force  is  fixed.  Dependent  as  is  that  vital 
force  on  the  extent  to  which  men  have  acquired  fitness  for 
a  co-operative  life — upon  the  efficiency  with  which  they  can 
combine  as  elements  of  the  social  organism,  we  may  be  quite 
certain  that,  while  their  characters  remain  constant,  nothing 
can  increase  its  total  quantity.  We  may  be  also  certain  that 
this  total  quantity  can  produce  only  its  equivalent  of  results ; 
and  that  no  legislators  can  get  more  from  it,  although  by 
wasting  it  they  may  get  less. 

Already,  in  treating  of  Poor-Laws  and  National  Educa- 
tion, we  have  examined  in  detail  the  reactions  by  which  these 
attempts  at  a  multiplication  of  results  are  defeated.  In  the 
case  of  sanitary  administrations,  a  similar  reaction  may  be 
traced ;  showing  itself,  among  other  ways,  in  the  checking  of 
social  improvements  which  demand  popular  enterprise. 

Should  proof  of  this  be  asked,  it  may  be  found  in  the 
contrast  between  English  energy  and  Continental  helpless- 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION".  217 

ness.  English  engineers  (Manby,  Wilson,  and  Co.)  estab- 
lished the  first  gas-works  in  Paris,  after  the  failure  of  a 
French  company;  and  many  of  the  gas-works  throughout 
Europe  have  been  constructed  by  Englishmen.  An  English 
engineer  (Miller)  introduced  steam  navigation  on  the  Rhone  ; 
another  English  engineer  (Pritchard)  succeeded  in  ascending 
the  Danube  by  steam,  after  the  French  and  Germans  had 
failed.  The  first  steam-boats  on  the  Loire  were  built  by 
Englishmen  (Fawcett  and  Preston) ;  the  great  suspension 
bridge  at  Pesth  has  been  built  by  an  Englishman  (Tierney 
Clarke) ;  and  an  Englishman  (Vignolles)  is  now  building  a 
still  greater  suspension  bridge  over  the  Dnieper.  Many  Con- 
tinental railways  have  had  Englishmen  as  consulting  engi- 
neers ;  and  in  spite  of  the  celebrated  Mining  College  at  Frey- 
burg,  several  of  the  mineral  fields  along  the  Rhine  have  been 
opened  up  by  English  capital  employing  English  skill.  Now 
why  is  this  ?  "Why  were  our  coaches  so  superior  to  the  dili- 
gences and  eilwagen  of  our  neigbours  ?  Why  did  our  rail- 
way-system develop  so  much  faster?  Why  are  our  towns 
better  drained,  better  paved,  and  better  supplied  with  water  ? 
There  was  originally  no  greater  mechanical  aptitude,  and  no 
greater  desire  to  progress,  in  us  than  in  the  connate  nations 
of  Northern  Europe.  If  anything,  we  were  comparatively 
deficient  in  these  respects.  Early  improvements  in  the  arts 
of  life  were  imported.  The  germs  of  our  silk  and  woollen 
manufactures  came  from  abroad.  The  first  water-works  in 
London  were  erected  by  a  Dutchman.  How  happens  it, 
then,  that  we  have  now  reversed  the  relationship?  Mani- 
festly the  change  is  due  to  difference  of  discipline.  Having 
been  left  in  a  greater  degree  than  others  to  manage  their 
own  affairs,  the  English  people  have  become  self-helping, 
and  have  acquired  great  practical  ability.  While,  conversely, 
that  comparative  helplessness  of  the  paternally-governed  na- 
tions of  Europe,  illustrated  in  the  above  facts,  and  com- 
mented upon  by  Laing,  in  his  Notes  of  a  Traveller,  and  by 
other  observers,  is  a  natural  result  of  the  State-superintend- 


218  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

ence  policy — is  the  reaction  attendant  on  the  action  of  official 
mechanisms — is  the  atrophy  corresponding  to  some  artificial 
hypertrophy. 

One  apparent  difficulty  accompanying  the  doctrine  now 
contended  for  remains  to  be  noticed.  If  sanitary  adminis- 
tration by  the  State  be  wrong,  because  it  implies  a  deduction 
from  the  citizen's  property  greater  than  is  needful  for  main- 
taining his  rights,  then  is  sanitary  administration  by  munici- 
pal authorities  wrong  also  for  the  same  reason.  Be  it  by 
general  government  or  by  local  government,  the  levying  of 
compulsory  rates  for  drainage,  and  for  paving  and  lighting, 
is  inadmissible,  as  indirectly  making  legislative  protection 
more  costly  than  necessary,  or,  in  other  words,  turning  it 
into  aggression  (p.  123) ;  and  if  so,  it  follows  that  neither  the 
past,  present,  nor  proposed  methods  of  securing  the  health  of 
towns  are  equitable. 

This  seems  an  awkward  conclusion ;  nevertheless,  as  dedu- 
cible  from  our  general  principle,  we  have  no  alternative  but 
to  accept  it.  How  streets  and  courts  are  rightly  to  be  kept  in 
order  remains  to  be  considered.  Respecting  sewage  there 
would  be  no  difficulty.  Houses  might  readily  be  drained  on 
the  same  mercantile  principle  that  they  are  now  supplied 
with  water.  It  is  probable  that  in  the  hands  of  a  private 
company,  the  resulting  manure  would  not  only  pay  the  cost 
of  collection,  but  would  yield  a  considerable  profit.  But  if 
not,  the  return  on  the  invested  capital  would  be  made  up  by 
charges  to  those  whose  houses  were  drained  :  the  alternative 
of  having  their  connexions  with  the  main  sewer  stopped, 
being  as  good  a  security  for  payment  as  the  analogous  ones 
possessed  by  water  and  gas  companies.*  Paving  and  lighting 

*  At  the  time  this  was  written  (1850)  I  was  not  aware  that  a  conclusive 
illustration  existed.  Six  years  afterwards  I  learnt  from  the  surveyor  of 
Cheltenham  (then  Mr.  H.  Dangerfield)  that  before  that  town  was  incor- 
porated there  had  been  formed  a  company  by  which  the  place  was  drained; 
and  this  company  paid  7  per  cent,  on  its  capital  I 


SANITARY  SUPERVISION.  219 

would  properly  fall  to  the  management  of  house-owners. 
Were  there  no  public  provision  for  such  conveniences,  house- 
owners  would  quickly  find  it  their  interest  to  furnish  them. 
Some  speculative  building  society  having  set  the  example  of 
improvement  in  this  direction,  competition  would  do  the  rest. 
Dwellings  without  proper  footways  before  them,  and  with  no 
lamps  to  show  the  tenants  to  their  doors,  would  stand  empty, 
when  better  accommodation  was  offered.  And  good  paving 
and  lighting  having  thus  become  essential,  landlords  would 
combine  for  the  more  economical  supply  of  them.* 

To  the  objection  that  the  perversity  of  individual  land- 
lords and  the  desire  of  some  to  take  unfair  advantage  of  the 
rest,  would  render  such  an  arrangement  impracticable,  the 
reply  is  that  in  new  suburban  streets,  not  yet  taken  to  by  the 
authorities,  such  an  arrangement  is,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
already  carried  out,  and  would  be  much  better  carried  out  but 
for  the  consciousness  that  it  is  merely  temporary.  Moreover, 
no  adverse  inference  could  be  drawn,  were  it  even  shown  that 

*  Only  quite  recently  (in  1890)  have  I  become  aware  of  cases  showing 
that,  as  above  alleged,  the  lighting  of  towns  might  very  well  have  been 
effected  by  voluntary  agency  in  the  absence  of  municipal  administration. 
That  the  making  and  distribution  of  gas  is  practicable  without  the  action 
of  any  local  government  is,  indeed,  a  familiar  fact ;  though  had  achieve- 
ment of  the  convenience  been  postponed  until  town-councils  undertook  it 
at  the  cost  of  the  ratepayers,  it  would  doubtless  have  been  supposed  that  it 
could  have  been  achieved  in  no  other  way.  But  there  is  proof  that  not  only 
is  private  enterprise  capable  of  supplying  the  inhabitants  of  towns  with 
gas  for  indoor  consumption,  but  that  it  is  also  capable  of  establishing  and 
maintaining  out-door  lighting.  In  1862,  Pewsey,  a  small  place  in  Wilt- 
shire of  not  quite  2,000  people,  established  a  gas  company.  Its  chief  b'usi- 
ness  has  rjeen  to  supply  private  houses  and  shops,  but  it  has  also  lighted 
the  streets:  being  paid  for  doing  this  by  the  voluntary  subscriptions  of  the 
chief  inhabitants.  Such  difficulties  as  have  arisen  have  been  due  to  the 
fact  that  in  so  small  a  place  the  subscribers  living  far  outside  of  it,  who 
derive  little  benefit  from  the  lighting,  bear  a  large  ratio  to  those  living 
within  the  place:  difficulties  which  would  not  arise  in  a  town  of  any  size. 
Though  the  company  pays  but  2  per  cent.,  yet  the  smallness  of  the  dividend 
is  obviously  due  to  the  large  proportion  which  the  cost  of  the  plant  and  ad- 
ministration bears  to  the  returns,  where  the  business  is  so  small. 


220  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

for  the  present  such  an  arrangement  is  impracticable.  So, 
also,  was  personal  freedom  once.  So  once  was  representative 
government,  and  is  still  with  many  nations.  As  repeatedly 
pointed  out,  the  practicability  of  recognizing  men's  rights  is 
proportionate  to  the  degree  in  which  men  have  become  moral. 
That  an  organization  dictated  by  the  law  of  equal  freedom 
cannot  yet  be  fully  realized,  is  no  proof  of  its  imperfection : 
is  proof  only  of  our  imperfection.  And  as,  by  diminishing 
this,  the  process  of  adaptation  has  already  fitted  us  for  insti- 
tutions which  were  once  too  good  for  us,  so  will  it  go  on  to 
fit  us  for  others  that  may  be  too  good  for  us  now. 


CURRENCY,  POSTAL  ARRANGEMENTS,  ETC. 

So  constantly  have  currency  and  government  been  asso- 
ciated— so  universal  has  been  the  control  exercised  by  law- 
givers over  monetary  systems — so  completely  have  men  come 
to  regard  this  control  as  a  matter  of  course ;  that  scarcely 
any  one  seems  to  inquire  what  would  result  were  it  abolished. 
Perhaps  in  no  case  is  the  necessity  of  State-superintendence 
so  generally  assumed  ;  and  in  no  case  will  the  denial  of  that 
necessity  cause  so  much  surprise. 

That  laws  interfering  with  currency  cannot  be  enacted 
without  a  reversal  of  State-duty  is  obvious ;  for  either  to 
forbid  the  issue,  or  enforce  the  receipt,  of  certain  notes  or 
coin  in  return  for  other  things,  is  to  infringe  the  right  of 
exchange — is  to  prevent  men  making  exchanges  which  they 
otherwise  would  have  made,  or  is  to  oblige  them  to  make  ex- 

O 

changes  which  they  otherwise  would  not  have  made.  If 
there  be  truth  in  our  general  principle,  it  must  be  impolitic  as 
well  as  wrong  to  do  this.  Nor  will  those  who  infer  as  much 
be  deceived  ;  for  it  may  be  shown  that  such  dictation  is  not 
only  needless,  but  injurious. 

The  monetary  arrangements  of  any  community  are  ulti- 
mately dependent,  like  most  of  its  other  arrangements,  on 
the  morality  of  its  members.  Among  a  people  altogether 
dishonest,  every  mercantile  transaction  must  be  effected  in 
coin  or  goods ;  for  promises  to  pay  cannot  circulate  at  all, 
where,  by  the  hypothesis,  there  is  no  probability  that  they 
will  be  redeemed.  Conversely,  among  perfectly  honest  peo- 

15 


222  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

pie  paper  alone  will  form  the  circulating  medium ;  seeing 
that  as  no  one  of  such  will  give  promises  to  pay  more  than 
his  assets  will  cover,  there  can  exist  no  hesitation  to  receive 
promises  to  pay  in  all  cases;  and  metallic  money  will  be 
needless,  save  in  nominal  amount  to  supply  a  measure  of 
value.  Manifestly  therefore,  during  any  intermediate  state, 
in  which  men  are  neither  altogether  dishonest  nor  altogether 
honest,  a  mixed  currency  will 'exist ;  and  the  ratio  of  paper 
to  coin  will  vary  with  the  degree  of  trust  individuals  can 
place  in  one  another.  There  seems  no  evading  this  conclu- 
sion. The  greater  the  prevalence  of  fraud,  the  greater  will  be 
the  number  of  transactions  in  which  the  seller  will  part  with 
his  goods  only  for  an  equivalent  of  intrinsic  value  ;  that  is, 
the  greater  will  be  the  number  of  transactions  in  which  coin 
is  required,  and  the  more  will  the  metallic  currency  prepon- 
derate. On  the  other  hand,  the  more  generally  men  find  each 
other  trustworthy,  the  more  frequently  will  they  take  pay- 
ment in  notes,  bills  of  exchange,  and  cheques  ;  the  fewer  will 
be  the  cases  in  which  gold  and  silver  are  called  for,  and  the 
smaller  will  be  the  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  in  circula- 
tion. 

Thus,  self -regulating  as  is  a  currency  when  let  alone,  laws 
cannot  improve  its  arrangements,  although  they  may,  and 
continually  do,  derange  them.  That  the  State  should  compel 
every  one  who  has  given  promises  to  pay — be  he  merchant, 
private  banker,  or  shareholder  in  a  joint-stock  bank — duly  to 
discharge  the  responsibilities  he  has  incurred,  is  very  true. 
To  do  this,  however,  is  merely  to  maintain  men's  rights — to 
administer  justice ;  and  therefore  comes  within  the  State's 
normal  function.  But  to  do  more  than  this — to  restrict 
issues,  or  forbid  notes  below  a  certain  denomination,  is 
no  less  injurious  than  inequitable.  For  limiting  the  paper 
in  circulation  to  an  amount  smaller  than  it  would  other- 
wise reach,  inevitably  necessitates  a  corresponding  in- 
crease of  coin ;  and  as  coin  is  locked-up  capital,  on  which 
the  nation  gets  no  interest,  a  needless  increase  of  it  is  equiva- 


CURRENCY,  POSTAL  ARRANGEMENTS,  ETC.    223 

lent  to  an  additional  tax  equal  to  tlie  additional  interest 
lost. 

Moreover,  even  under  such  restrictions,  men  must  still 
depend  mainly  on  one  another's  good  faith  and  enlightened 
self-interest ;  seeing  that  only  by  requiring  the  banker  to 
keep  sufficient  specie  in  his  coffers  to  cash  all  the  notes  he 
has  issued,  can  complete  security  be  given'  to  the  holders  of 
them ;  and  to  require  as  much  is  to  destroy  the  motive  for 
issuing  notes.  It  should  be  remembered,  too,  that  even  now 
the  greater  part  of  our  paper  currency  is  wholly  unguaran- 
teed. Over  the  bills  of  exchange  in  circulation,*  which  rep- 
resent liabilities  three  times  as  great  as  are  represented  by 
notes,  no  control  is  exercised.  For  the  honouring  of  these 
there  exists  no  special  security,  and  the  multiplication  of 
them  is  without  any  limit,  save  that  natural  one  above 
mentioned — the  credit  men  find  it  safe  to  give  one  an- 
other. 

Lastly,  we  have  experience  completely  to  the  point. 
While  in  England  banking  has  been  perpetually  controlled, 
now  by  privileging  the  Bank  of  England,  now  by  limiting 
banking  partnerships,  now  by  prohibiting  banks  of  issue  with- 
in a  specified  circle,  and  now  by  restricting  the  amounts  issued 
— while  "  we  have  never  rested  for  many  years  together  with- 
out some  new  laws,  some  new  regulations,  dictated  by  the  fancy 
and  theory  fashionable  at  particular  periods  "  f  and  while  "  by 
constant  interference  we  have  prevented  public  opinion,  and 
the  experience  of  bankers  themselves,  adapting  and  moulding 
their  business  to  the  best  and  safest  course "  \ — there  has 
existed  in  Scotland  for  nearly  two  centuries  a  wholly  uncon- 
trolled system, — a  complete  free-trade  in  currency.  And 
what  have  been  the  comparative  results  ?  Scotland  has  had 

*  Though  not  literally  currency,  bills  of  exchange,  serving  in  many 
cases  to  effect  mercantile  transactions  which  would  otherwise  be  effected 
in  money,  to  that  extent  perform  its  function. 

•J-  Capital,  Currency,  and  Banking,     By  James  Wilson,  Esq.,  M.  P. 
Ibid. 


224  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

the  advantage,  both  in  security  and  economy.  The  gain  in 
security  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  proportion  of  bank 
failures  in  Scotland  has  been  far  less  than  in  England. 
Though  "  by  law  there  has  never  been  any  restriction  against 
any  one  issuing  notes  in  Scotland ;  yet,  in  practice,  it  has 
ever  been  impossible  for  any  unsound  or  unsafe  paper  to 
obtain  currency."  *  And  thus  the  natural  guarantee  in  the 
one  case  has  been  more  efficient  than  the  legislative  one  in 
the  other.  The  gain  in  economy  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
Scotland  has  carried  on  its  business  with  a  circulation  of 
£3,500,000,  while  in  England  the  circulation  is  from 
£50,000,000  to  £60,000,000 ;  or,  allowing  for  difference  of 
population,  England  has  required  a  currency  three  times 
greater  than  Scotland. 

When,  therefore,  we  find  a  priori  reason  for  concluding 
that  in  any  given  community  the  due  balance  between  paper 
and  coin  will  be  spontaneously  maintained — when  we  also 
find  that  three-fourths  of  our  own  paper  circulation  is  self- 
regulated,  and  that  the  restrictions  on  the  other  fourth  entail 
a  useless  sinking  of  capital — when  we  find,  further,  that 
facts  prove  a  self-regulated  system  to  be  both  safer  and 
cheaper,  we  may  fairly  say,  as  above,  that  legislative  inter- 
ference is  not  only  needless,  but  injurious. 

If  evil  arises  when  the  State  takes  upon  itself  to  regulate 
currency,  so  also  does  evil  arise  when  it  turns  banker.  True, 
no  direct  breach  of  duty  is  committed  in  issuing  notes ;  for 
the  mere  transfer  of  promises  to  pay  to  those  who  will  take 
them,  necessitates  neither  infringement  of  men's  rights  nor 
the  raising  of  taxes  for  illegitimate  purposes.  Did  the  State 
confine  itself  to  this,  no  harm  would  result ;  but  when,  as  in 
practice,  it  makes  its  notes,  or,  rather,  those  of  its  proxy, 
legal  tender,  it  both  violates  the  law  of  equal  freedom  and 
opens  the  door  to  abuses  that  were  else  impossible.  Having 
enacted  that  its  agent's  promises  to  pay  shall  be  taken  in 

*  Capital,  Currency,  and  Banking.    By  James  Wilson,  Esq.,  M.  P. 


CURRENCY,   POSTAL  ARRANGEMENTS,  ETC.          225 

discharge  of  all  claims  between  man  and  man,  there  readily 
follows,  when  occasion  calls,  the  further  step  of  enacting  that 
these  promises  to  pay  shall  be  taken  in  discharge  of  all  claims 
on  its  agent.  This  done,  further  liabilities  are  incurred  with- 
out difficulty,  for  they  can  be  liquidated  in  paper.  Paper 
continues  to  be  issued  without  limit,  and  then  comes  depre- 
ciation ;  which  depreciation  is  virtually  an  additional  taxation 
imposed  without  the  popular  consent — a  taxation  which,  if 
directly  imposed,  would  make  men  realize  the  extravagance 
of  their  national  expenditure,  and  condemn  the  war  necessi- 
tating it.  Seeing,  then,  that  there  could  never  occur  depre- 
ciation, and  its  concomitant  evils,  were  there  no  notes  made 
inconvertible  by  Act  of  Parliament ;  and  seeing  that  there 
could  never  exist  any  motive  to  make  notes  legally  incon- 
vertible, save  for  purposes  of  State-banking ;  there  is  good 
reason  to  consider  State-banking  injurious.  Should  it  be 
urged  that,  for  the  occasional  evils  it  entails  State-banking 
more  than  compensates  by  the  habitual  supply  of  many 
millions'  worth  of  notes,  whose  place  could  not  be  supplied 
by  other  notes  of  equal  credit,  it  is  replied  that  had  the  Bank 
of  England  no  alliance  with  the  State,*  its  notes  would  still 
circulate  as  extensively  as  now,  provided  its  proprietors  con- 
tinued their  solicitude  (so  constantly  shown  at  the  half- 
yearly  meetings)  to  keep  their  assets  more  than  three  millions 
above  their  liabilities. 

There  is  a  third  capacity  in  which  a  Government  usually 
stands  related  to  the  currency,  namely,  as  a  manufacturer  of 
coins.  That  in  theory  a  Government  may  carry  on  the  trade 
of  stamping  bullion  without  necessarily  reversing  its  proper 
function  is  admitted.  Practically,  however,  it  never  does  so 
without  collaterally  transgressing.  For  the  same  causes  which 

*  The  alliance  consists  in  this,  that  on  the  credit  of  a  standing  debt  of 
£14,000,000,  due  from  the  Government  to  the  Bank,  the  Bank  is  allowed  to 
issue  notes  to  that  amount  (besides  further  notes  on  other  security),  and 
hence  to  the  extent  of  this  debt  the  notes  have  practically  a  Government 
guarantee. 


226  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

prevent  it  from  profitably  competing  with  private  individuals 
in  other  trades,  must  prevent  it  from  profitably  competing 
with  them  in  this — a  truth  which  inquiry  into  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Mint  will  sufficiently  enforce.  And  if  so,  a 
Government  can  manufacture  coins  without  loss  only  by  for- 
bidding every  one  else  to  manufacture  them.  By  doing  this, 
however,  it  diminishes  men's  liberty  of  action  in  the  same 
way  as  by  any  other  trade  restriction — in  short,  does 
wrong.  And,  ultimately,  the  breach  of  the  law  of  equal 
freedom  thus  committed  results  in  society  having  to  pay 
more  for  its  metallic  currency  than  would  otherwise  be 
necessary. 

Perhaps  to  most  it  will  seem  that  by  a  national  mint  alone 
can  the  extensive  diffusion  of  spurious  coinage  be  prevented. 
But  those  who  suppose  this,  forget  that  under  a  natural  sys- 
tem there  would  exist  the  same  safeguards  against  such  an 
evil  as  at  present.  The  ease  with  which  bad  money  is  dis- 
tinguished from  good,  is  the  ultimate  guarantee  for  genuine- 
ness ;  and  this  guarantee  would  be  as  efficient  then  as  now. 
Moreover,  whatever  additional  security  arises  from  the  pun- 
ishment of  "  smashers,"  would  still  be  afforded :  seeing  that 

'  '  o 

to  bring  to  justice  those  who,  by  paying  in  base  coin,  obtain 
goods  "  under  false  pretences,"  comes  within  the  State's  duty. 
Should  it  be  urged  that,  in  the  absence  of  legislative  regula- 
tions, there  would  be  nothing  to  prevent  makers  from  issuing 
new  mintages  of  various  denominations  and  degrees  of  fine- 
ness, the  reply  is  that  only  when  some  obvious  public  advan- 
tage was  to  be  obtained  by  it,  could  a  coin  differing  from 
current  ones  get  into  circulation.  Were  private  mints  now 
permitted,  the  proprietors  of  them  would  be  obliged  to  make 
their  sovereigns  like  existing  ones,  because  no  others  would 
be  taken.  For  the  size  and  weight — they  would  be  tested  by 
gauge  and  balance,  as  now  (and  for  a  while  with  great  cau- 
tion). For  the  fineness — it  would  be  guaranteed  by  the  scru- 
tiny of  other  makers.  Competing  firms  would  assay  each 
other's  issues  whenever  there  appeared  the  least  reason  to 


CURRENCY,  POSTAL  ARRANGEMENTS,  ETC.          227 

think  them  below  the  established  standard,  and  should  their 
suspicions  prove  correct,  would  quickly  find  some  mode  of 
diffusing  the  information.  Probably  a  single  case  of  exposure 
and  the  consequent  ruin,  would  ever  after  prevent  attempts 
to  circulate  coins  of  inferior  fineness. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  many  readers,  though  unprepared 
with  definite  replies  to  these  reasonings,  will  still  doubt  their 
correctness.  That  the  existing  monetary  system — an  actual 
working  system,  seemingly  kept  going  by  the  State — would 
be  benefited  by  the  withdrawal  of  State-control,  is  a  belief 
which  the  strongest  arguments  will  in  most  cases  fail  to  in- 
stil. Custom  will  bias  men  in  this  case,  much  as  in  another 
case  it  does  the  vine-growers  of  France,  who,  having  long 
been  instructed  by  State-commissioned  authorities  when  to 
commence  the  vintage,  believe  that  such  dictation  is  bene- 

O     " 

ficial.  So  much  more  does  a  realized  fact  influence  us  than 
an  imagined  one,  that  had  the  baking  and  sale  of  bread  been 
hitherto  carried  on  by  Government-agents,  probably  the  sup- 
ply of  bread  by  private  enterprise  would  scarcely  be  con- 
ceived possible,  much  less  advantageous.  The  philosophical 
free-trader,  however,  remembering  this  effect  of  habit  over 
the  convictions — remembering  how  innumerable  have  been 
the  instances  in  which  legislative  control  was  erroneously 
thought  necessary — remembering  that  in  this  very  matter  of 
currency  men  once  considered  it  requisite  "  to  use  the  most 
ferocious  measures  to  bring  as  much  foreign  bullion  as  pos- 
sible into  the  country,  and  to  prevent  any  going  out " — re- 
membering how  that  interference,  like  others,  proved  not 
only  needless  but  injurious — remembering  all  this,  the  philo- 
sophical free-trader  will  infer  that  in  the  present  instance 
also,  legislative  control  is  undesirable.  "Reasons  for  consider- 
ing trade  in  money  an  exception  to  the  general  rule,  will 
weigh  but  little  with  him ;  for  he  will  recollect  that  similar 
reasons  have  been  assigned  for  restricting  various  trades,  and 
have  been  disproved  by  the  results.  Rather  will  he  conclude 
that  as,  in  spite  of  all  prophecies  and  appearances  to  the  con- 


228  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

trary,  entire  freedom  of  exchange  lias  been  beneficial  in  other 
cases,  so,  despite  similar  prophecies  and  adverse  appearances, 
will  it  be  beneficial  in  this  case.* 

What  was  lately  said  respecting  the  stamping  of  bullion 
may  here  be  repeated  respecting  the  carrying  of  letters, 
that  it  is  not  intrinsically  at  variance  with  State-duty ;  for  it 
does  not  in  the  abstract  necessitate  any  infringement  of  men's 
rights,  either  directly,  or  by  taxes  raised  for  non-protective 
purposes.  Nevertheless,  just  as  we  found  reason  to  think 
that  Government  could  not  continue  to  manufacture  coin 
unless  by  preventing  private  individuals  from  doing  the  same, 
so  shall  we  find  reason  to  think  that  it  would  cease  to  carry 
letters  did  it  not  forbid  competition.  And  if  this  is  implied, 

*  The  conclusion  drawn  in  the  above  section  has  been  contested  by 
Prof.  W.  Stanley  Jevons  in  his  work  on  Money  and  the  Mechanism  of 
Exchange.  He  argues  that  in  this  case  the  judgment  of  the  consumer 
cannot  be  trusted  to  maintain  the  quality,  because  the  consumer  does  not 
take  the  money  to  keep  it,  but  to  pass  it  on,  and  hence  has  no  interest  in 
any  greater  goodness  of  it  than  will  enable  him  to  pass  it  on.  He  enunci- 
ates what  has  been  called  Gresham's  law,  "  that  bad  money  drives  out  good 
money,  but  that  good  money  cannot  drive  out  bad  money."  But  this  ignores 
the  fact  that  after  a  certain  point  depreciation  of  value  from  wear  (which 
is  the  cause  he  assigns  for  debasement)  hinders  the  circulation  of  the  de- 
based money ;  for,  as  from  time  to  time,  banks  deduct  discount  on  receiv- 
ing much-worn  coins,  and  as  traders,  knowing  this,  often  refuse  much-worn 
coins,  there  arises  a  resistance  to  the  circulation  of  the  inferior  coinage, 
and  it  becomes  unable,  as  alleged,  to  drive  out  the  good.  Not  having  my- 
self much  studied  this  question,  however,  I  rely  chiefly  on  an  authority 
certainly  not  lower  than  Prof.  Jevons,  namely,  the  late  Mr.  Walter  Bage- 
hot,  who  as  banker,  editor  of  the  Economist,  and  writer  on  financial  mat- 
ters, was  a  judge  specially  competent.  Shortly  before  his  death,  I  named 
to  him  Prof.  Jevons'  argument.  He  dissented  from  it  and  agreed  with 
me.  He  did  more.  He  expressed  the  opinion  that  had  there  existed  no 
interdicts  on"  coining  by  private  persons,  the  house  of  Rothschild  would 
long  before  this  have  established  an  universal  coinage  !  If  he  was  right  in 
this  belief,  how  enormous  has  been  the  injury  inflicted  on  mankind  by 
State-interdicts  on  coining.  What  an  immense  amount  of  labour  and 
loss  would  have  been  saA'ed  had  things  been  allowed  to  take  their  natural 
course ! 


CURRENCY,  POSTAL  ARRANGEMENTS,  ETC.          229 

a  Government  cannot  undertake  postal  functions  without  re- 
versing its  essential  function. 

Evidence  that  private  enterprise  would  supersede  State- 
agency  in  this  matter,  were  it  allowed  the  opportunity,  is 
deduciblc  not  only  from  our  general  experience  of  the  in- 
feriority of  Government  in  the  capacity  of  manufacturer, 
trader,  or  manager  of  business,  but  from  facts  immediately 
bearing  on  the  question.  Thus  we  must  remember  that  the 
efficiency  to  which  our  postal  system  has  actually  attained  is 
not  due  to  its  being  under  public  administration,  but  is  due  to 
pressure  from  without.  Changes  have  been  forced  on  the 
authorities,  not  introduced  by  them.  The  mail-coach  system 
was  established,  and  for  a  length  of  time  managed,  by  a 
private  individual,  and  lived  down  official  opposition.  The 
reform  originated  by  Mr.  Rowland  Hill  was  strenuously 
resisted ;  and  it  is  generally  reported  that  even  now,  official 
perversity  prevents  his  plans  from  being  fully  carried  out. 
Whereas,  seeing  that  the  speculative  spirit  of  trade  is  not 
only  ready,  but  eager,  to  satisfy  social  wants,  it  is  probable 
that  under  a  natural  state  of  things  modern  postal  improve- 
ments would  have  been  willingly  adopted,  if  not  forestalled. 
Should  it  be  alleged  that  private  enterprize  would  not  be 
competent  to  so  gigantic  an  undertaking,  it  is  replied  that 
already  there  are  extensive  organizations  of  analogous 
character  which  work  well.  The  establishments  of  our  large 
carriers  ramify  throughout  the  kingdom ;  and  we  have  a 
Parcels  Delivery  Company  co-extensive  in  its  sphere  with 
the  London  District  Post,  and  quite  as  efficient.  Private 
agencies  for  communicating  information  beat  public  ones  even 
now,  wherever  they  are  permitted  to  compete  with  them. 
The  foreign  expresses  of  our  daily  papers  are  uniformly 
before  the  Government  expresses.  Copies  of  a  royal  speech, 
or  statements  of  an  important  vote,  are  diffused  throughout 
the  country  by  the  press,  with  a  rapidity  exceeding  that  ever 
achieved  by  the  Post  Office ;  and  if  expedition  is  shown  in 
the  stamping  and  sorting  of  letters,  it  is  far  surpassed  by  the 


230  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

expedition  of  parliamentary  reporting.  Moreover,  much  of 
the  postal  service  itself  is  already  performed  by  the  private 
agency  of  railway  companies  and  steam-boat  companies.  Not 
only  are  our  internal  mails  carried  by  contract,  but  nearly  all 
our  external  ones  also ;  and  where  they  are  carried  by  Govern- 
ment they  are  carried  at  a  great  loss.  In  proof  of  which 
assertion  it  needs  but  to  quote  the  fact  that  the  Peninsular 
and  Oriental  Steam  Navigation  Company  offers  to  secure  for 
us  a  direct  monthly  communication  with  Australia;  two 
communications  monthly  from  Southampton  to  Alexandria ; 
two  communications  monthly  from  Suez  to  Ceylon,  Singa- 
pore, and  China;  and  two  communications  monthly  from 
Calcutta  to  Singapore  and  China ;  besides  performing  the 
service  twice  a  month  between  Suez  and  Bombay;  and  all 
for  the  same  sum  of  money  which  the  latter  service  alone 
(Suez  to  Bombay)  now  costs  the  Governments  of  India  and 
Great  Britain! 

If,  then,  public  letter-carrying  has  been  brought  to  its 
existing  efficiency  by  the  thought,  enterprize,  and  urgency  of 
private  persons,  in  spite  of  official  resistance — if  organizations 
similar  to  our  postal  ones  already  exist  and  work  well — if,  as 
conveyers  of  intelligence  by  other  modes  than  the  mail,  trad- 
ing bodies  uniformly  excel  the  State — if  much  of  the  mail 
service  itself  is  performed  by  such  trading  bodies,  and  that, 
too,  on  the  largest  scale,  with  incomparably  greater  economy 
than  the  State  can  perform  it  with ;  there  is  nothing  un- 
reasonable in  the  conclusion  that,  were  it  permitted,  com- 
mercial enterprize  would  generate  a  letter-carrying  system 
as  efficient  as,  if  not  more  efficient  than,  our  present  one.  It 
is  true  that  many  obstacles  stand  in  the  way  of  such  a  result. 
But  because  it  is  now  scarcely  possible  to  see  our  way  over 
these,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  may  not  be  surmounted. 
There  are  moral  inventions  as  well  as  physical  ones.  And  it 
frequently  happens  that  the  instrumentalities  which  ultimately 
accomplish  certain  social  desiderata,  are  as  little  foreseen  as 
are  the  mechanical  appliances  of  one  generation  by  the 


CURRENCY,  POSTAL  ARRANGEMENTS,  ETC.          £31 

previous  one.  Take  the  Railway  Clearing-House  for  an 
example.  Hence  it  is  not  too  much  to  expect  that  under  the 
pressure  of  social  necessity,  and  the  stimulus  of  self-interest, 
satisfactory  modes  of  meeting  all  such  difficulties  would  be 
discovered. 

However,  any  doubts  which  may  still  be  entertained  on  the 
point  do  not  militate  against  our  general  principle.  It  is  clear 
that  the  restriction  put  upon  the  liberty  of  trade,  by  forbid- 
ding private  letter-carrying  establishments,  is  a  breach  of 
State-duty.  It  is  also  clear  that  were  that  restriction  abolished, 
a  natural  postal  system  would  eventually  grow  up,  could  it 
surpass  in  efficiency  our  existing  one.  And  it  is  further 
clear  that  if  it  could  not  surpass  it,  the  existing  system  might 
rightly  continue ;  for,  as  at  first  said,  the  fulfilment  of  postal 
functions  by  the  State  is  not  intrinsically  at  variance  with 
the  fulfilment  of  its  essential  function. 

The  execution  by  Government  of  what  are  commonly 
called  public  works,  as  lighthouses,  harbours  of  refuge,  &c., 
implying,  as  it  does,  the  imposition  of  taxes  for  other 
purposes  than  maintaining  men's  rights  against  foreign  and 
domestic  foes,  is  as  much  forbidden  by  our  definition  of 
State-duty  as  is  a  system  of  national  education,  or  a  religious 
establishment.  Nor  is  this  unavoidable  inference  really  an 
inconvenient  one ;  however  much  it  may  at  first  seem  so. 
The  agency  by  which  these  minor  wants  of  society  are  now 
satisfied,  is  not  the  only  agency  competent  to  satisfy  them. 
Wherever  there  exists  a  want,  there  will  also  exist  an  impulse 
to  get  it  fulfiled ;  and  this  impulse  is  sure,  eventually,  to  pro- 
duce action.  In  the  present  case,  as  in  others,  that  which  is 
beneficial  to  the  coinmunity  as  a  whole,  it  will  become  the 
private  interest  of  some  part  of  the  community  to  accomplish. 
And  as  this  private  interest  has  been  so  efficient  a  provider  of 
roads,  canals,  and  railways,  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should 
not  be  an  equally  efficient  provider  of  harbours  of  refuge, 
lighthouses,  and  all  analogous  appliances.  Even  were  there 


232  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

no  classes  whose  private  interests  would  be  obviously  sub- 
served by  executing  such  works,  this  inference  might  still  be 
defended.  But  there  are  such  classes.  Ship-owners  and 
merchants  have  a  direct  and  ever-waking  motive  to  diminish 
the  dangers  of  navigation ;  and  were  they  not  taught  by  cus- 
tom to  look  for  State-aid,  would  themselves  quickly  unite  to 
establish  safeguards.  Or,  possibly,  they  would  be  anticipated 
by  a  combination  of  Marine  Insurance  Offices  (themselves 
protective  institutions  originated  by  self-interest).  But  in- 
evitably, in  some  way  or  other,  the  numerousness  of  the  par- 
ties concerned  and  the  largeness  of  the  capital  at  stake,  would 
guarantee  the  taking  of  all  requisite  precautions.  That  enter- 
prize  which  built  the  docks  of  London,  Liverpool,  and  Birken- 
head — which  is  enclosing  the  Wash — which  so  lately  bridged 
the  Atlantic  by  steam — and  which  is  now  laying  down  the 
electric  telegraph  across  the  Channel — might  safely  be  trusted 
to  provide  against  the  contingencies  of  coast-navigation. 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS. 

SOCIAL  philosophy  may  be  aptly  divided  (as  political 
economy  has  been)  into  statics  and  dynamics ;  the  first  treat- 
ing of  the  equilibrium  of  a  perfect  society,  the  second  of  the 
forces  by  which  society  is  advanced  towards  perfection.*  To 
determine  what  laws  we  must  obey  for  the  obtainment  of 
complete  happiness  is  the  object  of  the  one ;  while  that  of  the 
other  is  to  analyze  the  influences  which  are  making  us  com- 
petent to  obey  these  laws.  Hitherto  we  have  concerned  our- 
selves chiefly  with  the  statics,  touching  on  the  dynamics  only 
occasionally  for  purposes  of  elucidation.  Now,  however, 
the  dynamics  claim  special  attention.  Some  of  the  phenom- 
ena of  progress  already  referred  to  need  further  explana- 
tion, and  many  others  associated  with  them  remain  to  be 
noticed.  There  are  also  sundry  general  considerations  not 
admissible  into  foregoing  chapters,  which  may  here  be  fitly 
included. 

And  first  let  us  mark  that  the  course  of  civilization  could 
not  have  been  other  than  it  has  been.  Given  an  unsubdued 
Earth ;  given  the  being — Man,  fitted  to  overspread  and  occupy 


*  I  had  seen  this  division  of  Political  Economy  in  the  work  of  Mr.  J.  S. 
Mill,  where  he  refers  to  it  as  having  been  made  by  some  one — a  political 
economist  I  supposed.  In  the  above  sentence  I  assumed  that  1  was  giving 
the  division  a  wider  application ;  whereas  it  appears  that  I  was  simply  giv- 
ing to  it  the  original  application  made  by  M.  Comte.  But  at  that  time 
Comte  was  to  me  only  a  name. 


234  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

it ;  given  the  laws  of  life  what  they  are ;  and  no  other  series 
of  changes  than  that  which  has  taken  place,  could  have  taken 
place. 

Each  member  of  a  race  fulfilling  the  conditions  to  greatest 
happiness,  must  be  so  constituted  that  he  may  obtain  full 
satisfaction  for  every  desire  without  diminishing  the  power 
of  others  to  obtain  like  satisfactions :  nay,  must  derive  pleas- 
ure from  seeing  pleasure  in  others.  Now,  for  such  beings 
to  multiply  in  a  world  tenanted  by  inferior  creatures — 
creatures  which  must  be  dispossessed  to  make  room — is  a 
manifest  impossibility.  By  the  definition,  such  beings  would 
lack  all  desire  to  exterminate  the  races  they  are  to  supplant. 
They  would,  indeed,  have  a  repugnance  to  exterminating 
them ;  for  the  ability  to  derive  pleasure  from  seeing  pleasure, 
involves  the  liability  to  derive  pain  from  seeing  pain.  Evi- 
dently, therefore,  these  hypothetical  beings,  instead  of  sub- 
jugating and  overspreading  the  Earth,  would  themselves 
become  the  prey  of  pre-existing  creatures,  in  which  destruct- 
ive desires  predominated.  Hence  the  aboriginal  man  must 
have  a  character  fitting  him  to  clear  it  of  races  endangering 
his  life,  and  races  occupying  the  space  required  by  mankind. 
He  must  have  a  desire  to  kill ;  for  it  is  the  law  of  animal  life 
that  to  every  needful  act  must  attach  a  gratification,  the  desire 
for  which  may  serve  as  a  stimulus.  In  other  words,  he  must 
be  what  we  call  a  savage ;  and  must  be  left  to  acquire  fitness 
for  social  life  as  fast  as  the  conquest  of  the  Earth  renders 
social  life  possible. 

Whoever  thinks  that  men  might  have  full  sympathy  with 
their  fellows,  while  lacking  all  sympathy  with  inferior  creat- 
ures, will  discover  his  error  on  looking  at  the  facts.  The 
Indian  whose  life  is  spent  in  the  chase,  delights  in  torturing 
his  brother  man  as  much  as  in  killing  game.  His  sons  are 
schooled  into  fortitude  by  long  days  of  torment,  and  his 
squaw  made  prematurely  old  by  hard  treatment.  Among 
partially-civilized  nations  the  two  characteristics  have  ever 
borne  the  same  relationship.  Thus  the  spectators  in  the 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  235 

Roman  amphitheatres  were  as  much  delighted  by  the  slaying 
of  gladiators  as  by  the  death-struggles  of  wild  beasts.  The 
ages  during  which  Europe  was  thinly  peopled,  and  hunting  a 
chief  occupation,  were  also  the  ages  of  feudal  violence,  uni- 
versal brigandage,  dungeons,  tortures.  Here  in  England  a 
whole  province  depopulated  to  make  game  a  preserve,  and  a 
law  sentencing  to  death  the  serf  who  killed  a  stag,  show  that 
great  activity  of  the  predatory  instinct  and  utter  indifference 
to  human  happiness  coexisted.  In  later  days,  wrhen  bull-bait- 
ing and  cock-fighting  were  common  pastimes,  the  penal  code 
was  far  more  severe  than  now  ;  prisons  were  full  of  horrors  ; 
men  put  in  the  pillory  were  maltreated  by  the  populace ;  and 
the  inmates  of  lunatic  asylums,  chained  naked  to  the  wall, 
were  exhibited  for  money,  and  tormented  for  the  amusement 
of  visitors.  Conversely,  among  ourselves  a  desire  to  dimin- 
ish human  misery  is  accompanied  by  a  desire  to  ameliorate 
the  condition  of  inferior  creatures.  While  the  kindlier  feel- 
ing of  men  is  seen  in  all  varieties  of  philanthropic  effort — in 
charitable  societies,  in  associations  for  improving  the  dwell- 
ings of  the  labouring  classes,  in  anxiety  for  popular  education, 
in  attempts  to  abolish  capital  punishment,  in  zeal  for  temper- 
ance reform,  in  ragged  schools,  in  endeavours  to  protect 
climbing  boys,  in  inquiries  concerning  "labour  and  the 
poor,"  in  emigration  funds,  in  the  milder  treatment  of  chil- 
dren, and  so  on — it  also  shows  itself  in  societies  for  the  pre- 
vention of  cruelty  to  animals,  in  Acts  of  Parliament  to  put 
down  the  use  of  dogs  for  purposes  of  draught,  in  the  con- 
demnation of  battues,  in  the  late  inquiry  why  the  pursuers  of 
a  stag  should  not  be  punished  as  much  as  the  carter  who 
maltreats  his  horse,  and  lastly,  in  vegetarianism.  Moreover, 
to  make  the  evidence  complete,  we  have  the  fact  that  men 
partially  adapted  to  the  social  state,  retrograde  on  being 
placed  in  circumstances  which  call  forth  the  old  propensities. 
The  barbarizing  of  colonists,  who  live  under  aboriginal  con- 
ditions, is  universally  remarked.  The  back  settlers  of 
America,  among  whom  unpunished  murders,  rifle  duels, 


236  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

and  Lynch  law  prevail — or,  better  still,  the  trappers,  who 
leading  a  savage  life  have  descended  to  savage  habits,  to 
scalping,  and  occasionally  even  to  cannibalism — sufficiently 
exemplify  it. 

The  same  impulses  govern  in  either  case.  The  desire  to 
inflict  suffering  distinguishes  not  between  the  creatures  who 
exhibit  that  suffering,  but  obtains  gratification  indifferently 
from  the  agonies  of  beast  and  human  being.  Contrariwise, 
the  sympathy  which  prevents  its  possessor  from  inflicting 
pain  that  he  may  avoid  pain  himself,  and  which  tempts  him 
to  give  happiness  that  he  may  have  happiness  reflected  back 
upon  him,  is  similarly  undistinguishing.  It  reproduces  in 
one  being  the  emotions  exhibited  by  other  beings ;  and  it 
extracts  pleasure  from  the  friskiness  of  a  just-unchained 
dog,  or  excites  pity  for  an  ill-used  beast  of  burden,  as  readily 
as  it  generates  fellow  feeling  with  the  joys  and  sorrow  of 
men. 

Thus  it  is  necessary  that  the  primitive  man  should  be  one 
whose  happiness  is  obtained  regardless  of  the  expense  to 
other  beings.  It  is  necessary  that  the  ultimate  man  should 
be  one  who  can  obtain  happiness  without  deducting  from 
the  happiness  of  others.  The  first  of  these  constitutions  has 
to  be  moulded  into  the  last.  And  the  manifold  evils  which 
have  filled  the  world  for  these  thousands  of  years — the  mur- 
ders, enslavings,  and  robberies — the  tyrannies  of  rulers,  the 
oppressions  of  class,  the  persecutions  of  sect  and  party,  the 
multiform  embodiments  of  selfishness  in  unjust  laws,  barbar- 
ous customs,  dishonest  dealings,  exclusive  manners,  and  the 
like — simply  illustrate  the  disastrous  working  of  this  original 
and  once  needful  constitution,  now  that  mankind  have  grown 
into  conditions  for  which  it  is  not  fitted — are  nothing  but 
symptoms  of  the  suffering  attendant  on  the  process  of  adapt- 
ing humanity  to  its  new  circumstances. 

But  why,  it  may  be  asked,  has  the  adaptation  gone  on  so 
slowly  ? 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  237 

The  answer  is,  that  the  new  conditions  to  which  adapta- 
tion has  been  taking  place  have  themselves  grown  up  but 
slowly.  The  warfare  between  man  and  the  creatures  at 
enmity  with  him  has  continued  down  to  the  present  time, 
and  over  a  large  portion  of  the  globe  is  going  on  now. 
Where  the  destructive  propensities  are  on  the  eve  of  losing 
their  gratification,  they  make  to  themselves  artificial  spheres 
of  exercise  by  game-preserving,  fox-hunting,  cock-fights,  bull- 
fights, bear-baiting ;  and  are  so  kept  in  activity.  But  note, 
chiefly,  that  the  old  predatory  disposition  is  in  a  certain  sense 
self-maintained.  For  it  generates  between  men  and  men 
hostile  relationship  similar  to  those  which  it  generates  be- 
tween men  and  inferior  animals ;  and  by  doing  so  provides 
itself  a  lasting  source  of  excitement.  This  happens  inevitably. 
The  desires  of  the  savage  acting,  as  we  have  seen,  indis- 
criminately, necessarily  lead  to  quarrels  of  individuals,  to 
fightings  of  tribes,  to  feuds  of  clan  with  clan,  to  wars  of 
nations. 

Hitherto,  then,  human  character  has  changed  but  slowly, 
because  it  has  been  subject  to  two  conflicting  sets  of  condi- 
tions. On  the  one  hand,  the  discipline  of  the  social  state  has 
been  developing  it  into  the  sympathetic  form  ;  while  on  the 
other  hand,  the  necessity  for  self-defence  partly  of  man 
against  brute,  partly  of  man  against  man,  and  partly  of 
societies  against  one  another,  has  been  maintaining  the  old 
unsympathetic  form.  And  only  where  the  influence  of  the 
first  set  of  conditions  has  exceeded  that  of  the  last,  and  then 
only  in  proportion  to  the  excess,  has  modification  taken 
place. 

Regarded  thus,  civilization  is  a  development  of  man's 
latent  capabilities  under  favourable  circumstances ;  which 
favourable  circumstances,  mark,  were  certain,  some  time  or 
other  to  occur.  Those  complex  influences  underlying  the 
higher  orders  of  natural  phenomena,  but  more  especially 
those  underlying  the  organic  world,  work  in  subordination  to 

the  law  of  probabilities.     A  plant,  for  instance,  produces 
16 


238  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

thousands  of  seeds.  The  greater  part  of  these  are  destroyed 
by  creatures  which  live  upon  them,  or  fall  into  places  where 
they  cannot  germinate.  Of  the  young  plants  produced  by 
those  which  do  germinate,  many  are  smothered  by  their 
neighbors  ;  others  are  blighted  by  insects,  or  eaten  up  by 
animals ;  and,  in  the  average  of  cases,  only  one  of  them  pro- 
duces a  perfect  specimen  of  its  species  which,  escaping  all 
dangers,  brings  to  maturity  seeds  enough  to  continue  the  race. 
Thus  is  it  also  with  every  kind  of  creature.  Thus  is  it  also, 
as  M.  Quetelet  has  shown,  with  the  phenomena  of  human  life. 
Thus  was  it  even  with  the  germination  and  growth  of 
societies.  The  seeds  of  civilization  existing  in  the  aboriginal 
man,  and  distributed  over  the  Earth  by  his  multiplication, 
were  certain  in  the  lapse  of  time  to  fall  here  and  there  into 
circumstances  fit  for  their  development ;  and,  in  spite  of  all 
blightings  and  uprootings,  were  certain,  by  sufficient  repeti- 
tion of  these  occurrences,  ultimately  to  originate  a  civiliza- 
tion which  should  outlive  all  disasters. 

The  forces  at  work  exterminate  such  sections  of  mankind 
as  stand  in  the  way,  with  the  same  sternness  that  they 
exterminate  beasts  of  prey  and  herds  of  useless  ruminants. 
Just  as  the  savage  has  taken  the  place  of  lower  creatures,  so 
must  he,  if  he  have  remained  too  long  a  savage,  give  place  to 
his  superior.  And  observe,  it  is  necessarily  to  his  superior 
that,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  he  does  give  place.  For  what 
are  the  pre-requi  sites  to  a  conquering  race  ?  Numerical 
strength,  or  more  powerful  nature,  or  an  improved  system  of 
warfare  ;  all  of  them  indications  of  advancement.  Numerical 
strength  implies  certain  civilizing  antecedents.  Deficiency 
of  game  may  have  necessitated  agricultural  pursuits,  and  so 
made  the  existence  of  a  larger  population  possible ;  or  dis- 
tance from  other  tribes  may  have  rendered  war  less  frequent, 
and  so  have  prevented  its  perpetual  decimations;  or  acci- 
dental superiority  over  neighbouring  tribes,  may  have  led  to 
the  final  subjugation  and  enslaving  of  these  :  in  any  of  which 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  239 

cases;  the  comparatively  peaceful  condition  resulting  must 
have  allowed  progress  to  commence.  Evidently,  therefore, 
the  conquest  of  one  people  over  another  has  been,  in  the 
main,  the  conquest  of  the  social  man  over  the  anti-social 
man  ;  or,  strictly  speaking,  of  the  more  adapted  over  the  less 
adapted. 

In  another  mode,  too,  the  continuance  of  the  unsympathetic 
character  has  indirectly  aided  civilization  while  it  has  directly 
hindered  it ;  namely,  by  giving  rise  to  slavery.  It  has  been 
truly  observed  that  only  by  such  stringent  coercion  as  is 
exercised  over  men  held  in  bondage,  could  the  needful  power 
of  continuous  application  have  been  developed.  Devoid  of 
this,  as  from  his  habits  of  life  the  aboriginal  man  necessarily 
was  (and  as,  indeed,  existing  specimens  show),  probably  the 
severest  discipline  continued  for  many  generations,  was 
required  to  make  him  submit  contentedly  to  the  necessities 
of  his  new  state.  And  if  so,  the  barbarous  selfishness  which 
maintained  that  discipline,  must  be  considered  as  having 
worked  a  collateral  benefit,  though  in  itself  so  radically 
bad. 

Let  not  the  reader  be  alarmed.  Let  him  not  fear  that  these 
admissions  will  excuse  new  invasions  and  new  oppressions. 
Nor  let  any  one  who  fancies  himself  called  upon  to  take 
Nature's  part  in  this  matter,  by  providing  discipline  for  idle 
negroes  or  others,  suppose  that  these  dealings  of  the  past  will 
serve  for  precedents.  Rightly  understood,  they  will  do  no 
such  thing.  That  phase  of  civilization  during  which  forcible 
supplantings  of  the  weak  by  the  strong,  and  systems  of  savage 
coercion,  are  on  the  whole  advantageous,  is  a  phase  which 
spontaneously  and  necessarily  gives  birth  to  these  things.  It 
is  not  in  pursuance  of  any  calmly-reasoned  conclusions 
respecting  Nature's  intention  that  men  conquer  and  enslave 
their  fellows — it  is  not  that  they  smother  their  kindly  feelings 
to  subserve  civilization ;  but  it  is  that,  as  yet  constituted,  they 
care  little  what  suffering  they  inflict  in  the  pursuit  of  grati- 
fication, and  even  think  the  achievement  and  exercise  of  mas- 


240  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

tery  honourable.  As  soon,  however,  as  there  arises  a  percep- 
tion that  these  subjugations  and  tyrannies  are  not  right — as 
soon  as  the  sentiment  to  which  they  are  repugnant  becomes 
sufficiently  powerful  to  suppress  them,  it  is  time  for  them  to 
cease.  The  question  altogether  depends  on  the  amount  of 
moral  feeling  possessed  by  men,  or,  in  other  words,  on  the 
degree  of  adaptation  to  the  social  state  they  have  undergone. 
Unconsciousness  that  there  is  anything  wrong  in  exterminat- 
ing inferior  races,  or  in  reducing  them  to  bondage,  presup- 
poses an  almost  rudimentary  state  of  men's  sympathies  and 
their  sense  of  human  rights.  The  oppressions  they  then  inflict 
and  submit  to,  are  not,  therefore,  detrimental  to  their  char- 
acters— do  not  retard  in  them  the  growth  of  the  social  senti- 
ments ;  for  these  have  not  yet  reached  a  development  great 
enough  to  be  offended  by  such  doings.  And  hence  the  aids 
given  to  civilization  by  clearing  the  Earth  of  its  least  ad- 
vanced inhabitants,  and  by  forcibly  compelling  the  rest  to 
acquire  industrial  habits,  are  given  without  moral  adaptation 
receiving  any  corresponding  check.  Quite  otherwise  is  it, 
however,  when  the  flagitiousness  of  these  gross  forms  of 
injustice  begins  to  be  recognized.  Then  the  times  give 
proof  that  the  old  regime  is  no  longer  fit.  Further  progress 
cannot  be  made  until  the  newly-felt  wrong  has  been  done 
away  or  diminished.  Were  it  possible  under  such  circum- 
stances to  uphold  past  institutions  and  practices,  it  would 
be  at  the  expense  of  a  continual  searing  of  men's  consciences. 
Before  a  forced  servitude  could  be  again  established  for  the 
industrial  discipline  of  eight  hundred  thousand  Jamaica  blacks, 
the  thirty  millions  of  English  whites  who  established  it  would 
have  to  retrograde  in  all  things — in  truthfulness,  fidelity, 
generosity,  honesty,  and  even  in  material  condition ;  for 
to  diminish  men's  moral  sense  is  to  diminish  their  fitness 
for  acting  together,  and,  therefore,  to  render  the  best  pro- 
ducing and  distributing  organizations  impracticable.  An- 
other illustration,  this,  of  the  economy  of  Nature.  While 
the  injustice  of  conquests  and  enslavings  is  not  perceived, 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  241 

they  are  on  the  whole  beneficial ;  but  as  soon  as  they  are 
felt  to  be  at  variance  with  the  moral  law,  the  continuance 
of  them  retards  adaptation  in  one  direction  more  than 
it  advances  in  another :  a  fact  which  our  new  preacher  of 
the  old  doctrine  that  might  is  right,  may  profitably  consider 
a  little. 

Contrasted  as  are  their  units,  primitive  communities  and 
advanced  ones  must  essentially  differ  in  the  principles  of 
their  structure.  Like  other  organisms,  the  social  organism 
has  to  pass  in  the  course  of  its  development  through  tempo- 
rary forms,  in  which  sundry  of  its  functions  are  fulfilled  by 
appliances  destined  to  disappear  as  fast  as  the  ultimate 
appliances  become  efficient.  Associated  humanity  has  larval 
appendages  analogous  to  those  of  individual  creatures. 

But  deciduous  institution  simply  deciduous  sentiments. 
Dependent  as  they  are  upon  popular  character,  established 
political  systems  cannot  die  out  until  the  feeling  which  up- 
holds them  dies  out.  Hence,  during  man's  apprenticeship  to 
the  social  state,  there  must  predominate  in  him  some  impulse 
corresponding  to  the  arrangements  requisite  ;  which  impulse 
diminishes  as  the  probationary  organization  made  possible  by 
it,  merges  into  the  ultimate  organization.  The  nature  and 
operation  of  this  impulse  now  demand  our  attention. 

"  I  had  so  great  a  respect  for  the  memory  of  Henry  IV.," 
said  the  celebrated  French  robber  and  assassin,  Cartouche, 
"  that  had  a  victim  I  was  pursuing  taken  refuge  under  his 
statue  on  the  Pont  Neuf,  I  would  have  spared  his  life."  An 
apt  illustration,  this,  of  the  co-existence  of  profound  hero- 
worship  with  the  extremest  savageness,  and  of  the  means 
hero-worship  affords  whereby  the  savage  may  be  ruled.  For 
the  anti-social  man  to  be  transformed  into  the  social  man,  he 
must  live  in  the  social  state.  But  how  can  a  society  be  main- 
tained when,  by  the  hypothesis,  the  aggressive  desires  of  its 
members  are  destructive  of  it?  Evidently  its  members  must 


242  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

possess  some  counterbalancing  tendency  which  shall  keep 
them  in  the  social  state  despite  the  incongruity,  and  which 
shall  diminish  as  adaptation  to  the  new  circumstances  renders 
restraint  less  needful.  Such  counterbalancing  tendency  we 
have  in  this  sentiment  which  leads  men  to  prostrate  them- 
selves before  any  manifestation  of  power,  be  it  in  chief, 
feudal  lord,  king,  or  constitutional  government. 

Facts  illustrate  this  alleged  ^connexion  between  strength 
of  hero-worship  and  strength  of  the  aggressive  propensities, 
and  other  facts  illustrate  the  simultaneous  decline  of  both. 

In  some  of  the  Pacific  isles,  where  the  immolation  of 
children  to  idols,  and  the  burying  of  parents  alive,  are  com- 
mon, "  so  high  is  the  reverence  for  hereditary  chieftainship 
that  it  is  often  connected  with  the  idea  of  Divine  power." 
In  Fiji  complete  absolutism  co-exists  with  rampant  canni- 
balism. We  read  of  human  hecatombs  in  connexion  with 
the  extremest  prostration  of  subjects  to  rulers,  as  in  Dahomy. 
There  is  autocratic  government,  too-,  for  the  bloodthirsty 
Mongolian  races.  Both  positive  and  negative  proof  of  this 
association  is  given  by  Mr.  Grote,  where  he  says,  "  In  no 
city  of  historical  Greece  did  there  prevail  either  human 
sacrifices  or  deliberate  mutilations,  such  as  cutting  off  the 
nose,  ears,  hands,  feet,  &c.,  or  castration,  or  selling  of  chil- 
dren into  slavery,  or  polygamy,  or  the  feeling  of  unlimited 
obedience  towards  one  man;  all  of  them  customs  which 
might  be  pointed  out  as  existing  amongst  the  contemporary 
Carthaginians,  Egyptians,  Persians,  Thracians,"  &c.  If  we 
consult  mediaeval  history,  there,  along  with  loyalty  strongly 
manifested,  are  the  right  of  private  war,  constant  wearing  of 
arms,  religious  martyrdoms  and  massacres,  &c.,  to  prove  that 
life  was  held  in  less  respect  than  now.  And  we  see  that  in 
recent  times  among  ourselves,  diminished  reverence  for  au- 
thority has  occurred  simultaneously  with  diminished  san- 
guinariness  in  our  criminal  code. 

That  infringements  of  personal  liberty  are  greatest  where 
awe  of  power  is  greatest,  is  in  some  sort  a  truism ;  seeing 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  243 

that  forced  servitude,  through  which  alone  extensive  viola- 
tions of  human  liberty  can  be  made,  is  impossible  unless  the 
sentiment  of  power-worship  is  strong.  Thus,  the  ancient 
Persians  could  never  have  allowed  themselves  to  be  con- 
sidered the  private  property  of  their  monarchs,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  overwhelming  influence  of  this  sentiment.  But 
that  such  submission  is  associated  with  a  defect  of  moral 
sense,  is  best  seen  in  the  acknowledged  truth  that  readiness 
to  cringe  is  accompanied  by  an  equal  readiness  to  tyrannize. 
Satraps  lorded  it  over  the  people  as  their  king  over  them. 
The  Helots  were  not  more  coerced  by  their  Spartan  masters 
than  these  in  turn  by  their  oligarchy.  Of  the  servile  Hin- 
doos we  are  told  that  "  they  indemnify  themselves  for  their 
passiveness  to  their  superiors  by  their  tyranny,  cruelty,  and 
violence  to  those  in  their  power."  During  the  feudal  ages, 
while  the  people  were  bondsmen  to  the  nobles,  the  nobles 
were  vassals  to  their  kings,  their  kings  to  the  pope.  In  Rus- 
sia, at  the  present  moment,  the  aristocracy  are  dictated  to  by 
their  emperor  much  as  they  themselves  dictate  to  their  serfs.* 
Prevalence  of  theft  is  similarly  associated  with  a  pre- 
dominance of  the  loyalty-producing  faculty.  Books  of  trav- 
els give  proof  that  among  uncivilized  races  pilfering  and 
the  irresponsible  power  of  chiefs  coexist.  The  piracy  of  the 
Malays  and  of  the  Chinese,  and  the  long-continued  predatory 
habits  of  the  Arab  races,  both  on  land  and  sea,  exist  in  con- 
junction with  obedience  to  despotic  rule.  "  One  quality," 
says  Kohl,  u  which  the  Lettes  show,  with  all  enslaved  tribes, 
is  a  great  disposition  to  thieving."  The  Russians,  to  whom 
worship  of  their  emperor  is  a  luxury,  confess  openly  that 
they  are  cheats,  and  laugh  over  the  confession.  The  Poles, 
whose  servile  salutation  is — "  I  throw  myself  under  your 
feet,"  and  among  whom  nobles  are  cringed  to  by  the  Jews 
and  citizens,  and  these  again  by  the  people,  are  certainly  not 
noted  for  probity.  Turning  to  the  superior  races,  we  find 

*  This  was  written  before  serfdom  was  abolished. 


244  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

that  they,  too,  have  passed  through  phases  in  which  this  same 
relationship  of  characteristics  was  marked.  The  times  when 
subjection  of  serfs  to  feudal  lords  was  strongest,  were  times 
of  universal  rapine.  "  In  Germany  a  very  large  proportion 
of  the  rural  nobility  lived  by  robbery : "  their  castles  being 
built  with  a  special  view  to  this  occupation,  and  that  even  by 
ecclesiastics.*  Burghers  were  fleeced,  towns  were  now  and 
then  sacked,  and  Jews  were  tortured  for  their  money.  Kings 
were  as  much  thieves  as  the  rest.  They  laid  violent  hands 
on  the  goods  of  their  vassals,  like  John  of  England  and 
Philip  Augustus  of  France  ;  they  cheated  their  creditors  by 
debasing  the  coinage ;  they  impressed  men's  horses  without 
paying  for  them  ;  and  they  seized  the  goods  of  traders,  sold 
them,  and  pocketed  a  large  part  of  the  proceeds.  Meantime, 
while  freebooters  overran  the  land  pirates  covered  the  sea : 
the  Cinque  Ports  and  St.  Malo  being  the  head  quarters  of 
those  infesting  the  English  Channel. 

Between  these  days  and  ours,  the  gradual  decline  of 
loyalty — as  shown  in  the  extinction  of  feudal  relationships, 
in  the  abandonment  of  divine  right  of  kings,  in  the  reduction 
of  monarchical  power,  and  in  the  comparative  leniency  with 
which  treason  is  now  punished — has  accompanied  an  equally 
gradual  increase  of  honesty,  and  of  regard  for  people's  lives 
and  liberties.  By  how  much  men  are  still  deficient  in  respect 
for  one  another's  rights,  by  so  much  are  they  still  penetrated 
with  respect  for  authority ;  and  we  may  even  trace  in  exist- 
ing classes  a  relation  between  these  characteristics.  Of  such 
meaning  is  the  observation  respecting  convicts,  quoted  and 
confirmed  by  Captain  Maconochie,  that  "a  good  prisoner 
(i.e.,  a  submissive  one)  is  usually  a  bad  man."  f  If,  again, 


*  "  An  Archbishop  of  Cologne  having  built  a  fortress  of  this  kind,  the 
governor  inquired  how  he  was  to  maintain  himself,  no  revenue  having 
been  assigned  for  that  purpose.  The  prelate  only  desired  him  to  remark, 
that  the  castle  was  situated  near  the  junction  of  four  cross  roads." — Hal- 
lam's  Middle  Ages. 

f  See  pamphlets  on  the  Mark  System  of  Discipline. 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  245 

we  turn  over  the  newspapers  which  circulate  among  court- 
satellites  and  chronicle  the  movements  of  the  haut-ton,  which 
ascribe  national  calamities  to  the  omission  of  a  royal  title 
from  a  new  coin,  and  which  apologize  for  Continental  des- 
pots ;  we  read  in  them  excuses  for  war  and  standing  armies, 
sneerings  at  "peace-mongers,"  defences  of  capital  punish- 
ments, condemnations  of  popular  enfranchisement,  diatribes 
against  freedom  of  exchange,  rejoicings  over  territorial  rob- 
beries, and  vindications  of  church-rate  seizures :  showing 
that,  where  belief  in  the  sacredness  of  authority  most  lingers, 
belief  in  the  sacredness  of  life,  of  liberty,  and  of  property,  is 
least  displayed. 

The  fact  that,  during  civilization,  awe  of  authority  and 
regard  for  equity  vary  inversely,  is  simply  the  obverse  of  the 
fact  already  hinted,  that  society  is  possible  so  long  only  as 
they  continue  to  do  this.  Evidently,  if  men  are  to  live 
together,  the  absence  of  internal  power  to  rule  themselves 
rightly  towards  each  other,  necessitates  the  presence  of 
external  power  to  enforce  such  behaviour  as  may  make 
association  tolerable ;  and  this  power  can  become  operative 
only  if  reverenced.  So  that  wild  races  deficient  in  the 
allegiance-producing  sentiment,  cannot  enter  into  a  civ- 
ilized state  at  all,  but  have  to  be  supplanted  by  others 
which  can.  And  it  must  further  follow  that  if  in  any 
community  loyalty  diminishes  at  a  greater  rate  than  equity 
increases,  there  will  arise  a  tendency  towards  social  disso- 
lution— a  tendency  which  the  populace  of  Paris  threaten  to 
illustrate.* 

How  needful  the  continuance  of  a  savage  selfishness 
renders  the  continuance  of  a  proportionate  amount  of  power- 
worship,  may  be  perceived  daily.  Examine  into  trade  prac- 
tices ;  read  over  business  correspondence ;  or  get  a  solicitor 
to  detail  his  conversations  with  clients : — you  will  find  that 

*  And  which  thev  have  since  illustrated. 


246  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

in  most  cases  conduct  depends,  not  upon  what  is  right,  but 
upon  what  is  legal.  Provided  they  "  keep  o'  the  windy  side 
of  the  law,"  the  great  majority  are  but  little  restrained  by 
regard  for  strict  rectitude.  The  question  with  your  every- 
day man  of  the  world  is,  not — May  the  claimant  justly 
require  thus  much  of  me  ?  but  rather — "  Is  it  so  nominated 
in  the  bond?"  If  "an  action  will  lie,"  such  an  one  will 
commonly  enough  take  proceedings  to  obtain  what  he  knows 
himself  not  equitably  entitled  to ;  and  if  "  the  law  allows  it 
and  the  court  awards  it,"  will  pocket  all  he  can  get  without 
scruple.  When  we  find  doings  like  these  regarded  as  matters 
of  course,  and  those  guilty  of  them  passing  for  respectable 
men — when  we  thus  find  that  so  many  will  deal  fairly  by 
their  fellows  only  on  compulsion ;  we  discover  how  requisite 
is  the  sentiment  from  which  the  compelling  instrumentality 
derives  its  force. 

Without  doubt  this  sentiment  has  begotten  many  gigantic 
evils,  some  of  which  it  still  nurtures.  The  various  supersti- 
tions that  have  prevailed,  and  that  still  prevail,  as  to  the 
great  things  legislatures  can  do,  and  the  disastrous  meddlings 
growing  out  of  these  superstitions,  are  due  to  it.  The  vener- 
ation which  produces  submission  to  a  Government,  unavoid- 
ably invests  that  Government  with  proportionately  high 
attributes ;  for  being  in  essence  a  worship  of  power,  it  can  be 
strongly  drawn  out  towards  that  only  which  either  has  great 
power,  or  is  believed  to  have  it.  Hence  the  old  delusions 
that  rulers  can  fix  the  value  of  money,  the  rate  of  wages,  and 
the  price  of  food.  Hence  the  still-current  fallacies  about 
preventing  distress,  easing  monetary  pressures,  and  curing 
over-population  by  law.  Hence,  also,  the  monstrous,  though 
generally-received  doctrine,  that  a  legislature  may  equitably 
take  people's  property  to  such  extent,  and  for  such  purposes, 
as  it  thinks  fit.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all  this — in  spite  of  the 
false  theories  and  mischievous  interferences,  the  numberless 
oppressions  and  miseries,  in  one  way  or  other  traceable  to  it, 
we  must  admit  that  this,  power-worship  has  fulfilled,  and  still 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  £47 

fulfils,  a  very  important  function,  and  that  it  may  advantage- 
ously last  as  long  as  it  can. 

That  it  cannot  last  longer  than  needful  may  be  readily 
proved.  The  very  feeling,  during  whose  minority  it  exer- 
cises regency  over  men,  becomes  the  destroyer  of  its  authority. 
Between  the  temporary  ruler  and  the  ultimate  rightful  one, 
there  is  an  unceasing  conflict,  in  which  the  wane  of  influence 
on  the  one  side  is  necessitated  by  its  growth  on  the  other. 

For,  as  already  shown,  the  sense  of  rights,  by  whose  sym- 
pathetic excitement  men  are  led  to  behave  justly  towards 
one  another,  is  the  same  sense  of  rights  by  which  they  are 
prompted  to  assert  their  own  claims — their  own  freedom  to 
exercise  their  faculties — and  to  resist  every  encroachment. 
This  impulse  brooks  no  restraint,  save  that  imposed  by  fel- 
low feeling ;  and  disputes  all  assumption  of  extra  privilege, 
by  whomsoever  made.  Consequently,  it  is  in  perpetual  an- 
tagonism with  a  sentiment  which  delights  in  subserviency. 
"  Reverence  this  authority,"  suggests  power- worship.  "  Why 
should  I  ?  who  set  it  over  me  ? "  demands  instinct  of  free- 
dom. "  I  will  do  what  your  Highness  bids,"  says  the  one 
with  bated  breath.  "  Pray,  sir,"  shouts  the  other,  "  who  are 
you,  that  you  should  dictate  to  me  ? "  "  This  man  is  divinely 
appointed  to  rule  over  us,  and  we  ought  therefore  to  submit," 
argues  the  one.  "  I  tell  you,  no,"  replies  the  other ;  "  we 
have  divinely-endorsed  claims  to  freedom,  and  it  is  our  duty 
to  maintain  them."  And  thus  the  controversy  goes  on : 
conduct  during  each  phase  of  civilization  being  determined 
by  the  relative  strengths  of  the  two  feelings.  While  yet  too 
feeble  to  be  operative  as  a  social  restraint,  moral  sense,  by  its 
scarcely-heard  protest,  does  not  hinder  a  predominant  hero- 
worship  from  giving  possibility  to  the  most  stringent  des- 
potism. Gradually,  as  it  grows  strong  enough  to  deter  men 
from  the  grosser  trespasses  on  one  another,  it  also  grows 
strong  enough  to  struggle  successfully  against  that  coercion 
which  is  no  longer  required. 


24:8  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

Of  course  the  institutions  of  any  given  age  exhibit  the 
compromise  made  by  these  contending  sentiments  at  the 
signing  of  their  last  truce.  Between  the  state  of  unlimited 
government  arising  from  supremacy  of  the  one  feeling,  and 
the  state  of  no  government  arising  from  supremacy  of  the 
other,  lie  intermediate  forms  of  political  organization,  begin- 
ning with  "  despotism  tempered  by  assassination,"  and  end- 
ing with  that  highest  development  of  the  representative  sys- 
tem, under  which  the  right  of  constituents  to  instruct  their 
delegates  is  fully  admitted :  a  system  which,  by  making  the 
nation  at  large  a  deliberative  body,  and  reducing  the  legisla- 
tive assembly  to  an  executive,  carries  self-government  to  the 
fullest  extent  compatible  with  the  existence  of  a  ruling 
power.  Of  necessity  the  mixed  constitutions  which  charac- 
terize this  transition  period,  are  in  the  abstract  absurd.  The 
two  feelings,  answering  to  the  popular  and  monarchical 
elements,  being  antagonistic,  give  utterance  to  antagonistic 
ideas.  And  to  suppose  that  these  can  be  consistently  united, 
is  to  suppose  that  yes  and  no  can  be  reconciled.  The  mo- 
narchical theory  is,  that  the  people  are  in  duty  bound  to  sub- 
mit themselves  with  all  humility  to  a  certain  individual — 
ought  to  subordinate  their  wills  to  his  will.  Contrariwise, 
the  democratic  theory — either  as  specifically  defined,  or  as 
embodied  in  our  own  constitution  under  the  form  of  a  power 
to  withhold  supplies,  and  in  the  legal  fiction  that  the  citizen 
assents  to  the  laws  he  has  to  obey — is,  that  the  people  ought 
not  to  be  subject  to  the  will  of  one,  but  should  fulfil  their 
own  wills.  Now  these  are  flat  contradictions.  If  a  king 
may  rightfully  claim  obedience,  then  should  that  obedience 
be  entire ;  else  there  starts  up  the  unanswerable  question — 
why  must  we  obey  in  this  and  not  in  that  ?  But  if  men  may 
rightfully  rule  themselves,  then  should  they  rule  themselves 
altogether.  Otherwise  it  may  be  asked — why  are  they  their 
own  masters  in  such  and  such  cases,  and  not  in  the 
rest? 

Nevertheless,  though  these  mixed  governments,  combin- 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  249 

ing  as  they  do  two  mutually  destructive  hypotheses,  are 
utterly  irrational  in  principle,  they  must  of  necessity  exist, 
so  long  as  they  are  in  harmony  with  the  mixed  constitution 
of  the  partially-adapted  man.  And  it  seems  that  the  radical 
incongruity  pervading  them  cannot  be  recognized  by  men, 
while  there  exists  a  corresponding  incongruity  in  their  own 
natures :  a  good  illustration  of  the  law  that  opinion  is  ulti- 
mately determined  by  the  feelings,  and  not  by  the  intel- 
lect. 

How  completely,  indeed,  conceptions  of  right  and  wrong 
in  these  matters,  depend  on  the  balance  of  impulses  existing 
in  men,  may  be  worth  considering  a  moment.  And  first 
observe  that  no  tracing  out  of  actions  to  their  final  good  or 
bad  consequences,  is,  by  itself,  capable  of  generating  appro- 
bation or  reprobation  of  those  actions.  Could  it  do  this, 
men's  moral  codes  would  be  high  or  low,  according  as  they 
made  these  analyses  well  or  ill,  that  is — according  to  their 
intellectual  acuteness.  Whence  it  would  follow  that,  in  all 
ages  and  nations,  men  of  equal  intelligence  should  have  like 
ethical  theories,  while  contemporaries  should  have  unlike 
ones,  if  their  reflective  powers  are  unlike.  But  facts  do  not 
answer  to  these  inferences.  On  the  contrary,  they  point  to 
the  law  above  specified.  Both  history  and  daily  experience 
prove  to  us  that  men's  ideas  of  rectitude,  correspond  to  the 
sentiments  and  instincts  predominating  in  them.  We  con- 
stantly read  of  despots  defending  their  claims  to  unlimited 
sway  as  being  divinely  authorized.  The  rights  of  rival 
princes  were  of  old  asserted  by  their  respective  partisans,  and 
are  still  asserted  by  modern  legitimists,  with  a  warmth  like 
that  with  which  an  ardent  democrat  asserts  the  rights  of 
man.  To  those  living  in  feudal  times,  so  unquestionable 
seemed  the  duty  of  serfs  to  obey  their  lords,  that  Luther,  (no 
doubt  acting  conscientiously)  urged  the  barons  to  vengeance 
on  the  rebellious  peasants ;  calling  on  all  who  could  "  to  stab 
them,  cut  them  down,  and  dash  their  brains  out,  as  if  they 


250  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

were  mad  dogs."  Moreover,  we  shall  find  that  deficiency  of 
the  appropriate  sentiment  disables  the  mind  from  realizing 
the  title  of  the  human  being  to  freedom.  Thus,  Plato  could 
conceive  of  nothing  better  Jor  his  ideal  republic  than  a  sys- 
tem of  class  despotism  ;  and,  indeed,  up  to  his  time,  and  long 
after  it,  there  seems  to  have  existed  no  man  who  saw  any- 
thing wrong  in  slavery.  It  is  narrated  of  Colonel  D'Oyley, 
the  first  governor  of  Jamaica,  that  within  a  few  days  after 
having  issued  an  order  "  for  the  distribution  to  the  army  of 
1701  Bibles,"  he  signed  another  order  for  the  "  payment  of 
the  summe  of  twenty  pounds  sterling,  out  of  the  impost 
money,  to  pay  for  fifteen  doggs,  brought  by  John  Hoy,  for 
the  hunting  of  the  negroes."  The  holding  of  slaves  by 
ministers  of  religion  in  America  is  a  parallel  fact.  Dr.  Mo- 
berly,  of  Winchester  College,  has  written  a  book  to  defend 
fagging ;  which  he  says,  as  a  system  of  school-government, 
gives  "  more  security  of  essential  deep-seated  goodness  than 
any  other  which  can  be  devised."  Again,  in  a  recent  pam- 
phlet, signed  "  A  Country  Parson,"  it  is  maintained  that 
"  you  must  convert  the  Chartist  spirit  as  you  would  reform 
the  drunkard's  spirit,  by  showing  that  it  is  a  rebellion  against 
the  laws  of  God."  But  the  strangest  peculiarity  exhibited 
by  those  deficient  in  the  sense  of  rights — or  rather  that 
which  looks  the  strangest  to  us — is  their  inability  to  recog- 
nize their  own  claims.  We  are  told,  for  instance,  by  Lieu- 
tenant Bernard,*  that  in  the  Portuguese  settlements  on  the 
African  coast,  the  free  negroes  are  "  taunted  by  the  slaves  as 
having  no  white  man  to  look  after  them,  and  see  them 
righted  when  oppressed ; "  and  it  is  said  that  in  America, 
the  slaves  themselves  look  down  upon  the  free  blacks,  and 
call  them  rubbish. 

To  account,  by  any  current  hypothesis,  for  the  numberless 
disagreements  in  men's  ideas  of  right  and  wrong  here  briefly 
exemplified,  seems  scarcely  possible.  But  on  the  theory  that 

*  Three  Years'  Cruize  in  the  Mozambique  Channel. 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  251 

opinion  is  a  resultant  of  moral  forces,  whose  equilibrium 
varies  with  every  race  and  epoch — that  is,  with  every  phase 
of  adaptation — the  rationale  is  evident.  Nor  indeed,  con- 
sidering the  matter  closely,  does  it  appear  that  society  could 
ever  hold  together  were  not  opinion  thus  dependent  on  the 
balance  of  feelings.  For,  were  it  otherwise,  races  yet  need- 
ing coercive  government  might  reason  their  way  to  the  con- 
clusion that  coercive  government  is  bad,  as  readily  as  more 
advanced  races.  And  did  they  do  this,  social  dissolution 
would  ensue ;  for  they  would  not  then  remain  contented 
under  that  stringent  rule  needed  to  keep  them  in  the  social 
state. 

The  process  by  which  a  change  of  political  arrangements  is 
effected,  when  the  incongruity  between  them  and  the  popular 
character  becomes  sufficient,  must  be  itself  in  keeping  with 
that  character,  and  must  be  violent  or  peaceful  accordingly. 
There  are  not  a  few  who  exclaim  against  all  revolutions 
wrought  out  by  force  of  arms ;  forgetting  that  the  quality  of 
a  revolution,  like  that  of  an  institution,  is  determined  by  the 
natures  of  those  who  make  it.  Moral  suasion  is  very  admira- 
ble ;  good  for  us — good,  indeed,  for  all  who  can  be  induced 
to  use  it.  But  to  suppose  that,  in  the  earlier  stages  of  social 
growth,  moral  suasion  can  be  employed,  or,  if  employed, 
would  answer,  is  to  overlook  the  conditions.  Stating  the 
case  mechanically,  we  may  say  that  as,  in  proportion  to  their 
unfitness  for  associated  life,  the  framework  within  which  men 
are  restrained  must  be  strong,  so  must  the  efforts  required  to 
break  up  that  framework,  when  it  is  no  longer  fit,  be  con- 
vulsive. The  existence  of  a  Government  which  does  not 
bend  to  the  popular  will — a  despotic  Government — pre- 
supposes several  circumstances  which  make  any  change  but 
a  violent  one  impossible.  First,  for  coercive  rule  to  have 
been  practicable,  implies  in  the  people  a  predominance  of 
that  awe  of  power  ever  indicative  of  still  lingering  savage- 
ness.  Moreover,  with  a  large  amount  of  power-worship 


252  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

present,  disaffection  can  take  place  only  when  the  accumulated 
evils  of  misgovernment  have  generated  great  exasperation. 
Add  to  which,  that  as  abundance  of  the  sentiment  upholding 
external  rule,  involves  lack  of  the  sentiments  producing  in- 
ternal rule,  no  such  check  to  excesses  as  that  afforded  by  a 
due  regard  for  the  lives  and  claims  of  others,  can  be  opera- 
tive. And  where  there  are  comparatively  active  destructive 
propensities,  extreme  anger,  and  ^deficient  self-restraint,  vio- 
lence is  inevitable,  Peaceful  revolutions  occur  under  quite 
different  circumstances.  They  become  possible  only  when 
society,  no  longer  consisting  of  members  so  antagonistic,  be- 
gins to  cohere  from  its  own  internal  organization,  and  needs 
not  be  kept  together  by  unyielding  external  restraints ;  and 
when,  by  consequence,  the  force  required  to  effect  change  is 
less.  They  become  possible  only  when  men,  having  acquired 
greater  adaptation  to  the  social  state,  will  neither  inflict  on 
one  another  nor  submit  to,  such  extreme  oppressions ;  and 
when,  therefore,  the  causes  of  popular  indignation  are  di- 
minished. They  become  possible  only  when  character  has 
grown  more  sympathetic ;  and  when,  as  a  result  of  this,  the 
tendency  towards  angry  retaliation  is  partially  neutralized. 
Indeed,  the  very  idea  that  reforms  may  and  ought  to  be 
effected  peacefully,  implies  a  large  endowment  of  the  moral 
sense.  Without  this,  such  an  idea  cannot  even  be  conceived, 
much  less  carried  out ;  with  this,  it  may  be  both. 

Hence,  we  must  look  on  social  convulsions  as  on  other 
natural  phenomena,  which  work  themselves  out  in  a  certain 
inevitable,  unalterable  way.  If  such  and  such  events  had  not 
occurred,  say  you,  the  result  would  have  been  otherwise ;  if 
this  or  that  man  had  lived,  he  would  have  prevented  the 
catastrophe.  Do  not  be  thus  deceived.  These  changes  are 
brought  about  by  a  power  far  above  individual  wills.  In- 
congruity between  character  and  institutions  is  the  disturb- 
ing force,  and  a  revolution  is  the  act  of  restoring  equilibrium. 
Accidental  circumstances  modify  the  process,  but  do  not 
essentially  alter  the  effect. 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  253 

That  these  violent  overturnings  of  early  institutions  fail  to 
do  what  their  originators  hope,  and  that  they  finally  result  in 
the  setting  up  of  institutions  not  much  better  than  those 
superseded,  is  quite  true.  But  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  the 
modifications  they  effect  can  be  effected  in  no  other  way. 
Non-adaptation  necessitates  a  bad  mode  of  making  changes, 
as  well  as  a  bad  political  organization.  Not  only  must  the 
habitual  rule  it  calls  for  be  severe,  but  even  small  ameli- 
orations of  this  cannot  be  obtained  without  much  suffering. 
Conversely,  the  same  causes  which  render  a  better  social 
state  possible,  render  the  successive  modifications  of  it  easier. 
These  occur  under  less  pressure,  with  smaller  disturbance, 
and  more  frequently ;  until,  by  a  gradual  diminution  in  the 
amounts  and  intervals  of  change,  the  process  merges  into  one 
of  uninterrupted  growth. 

There  is  another  form  under  which  civilization  can  be 
generalized.  We  may  consider  it  as  a  progress  towards  that 
constitution  of  man  and  society  required  for  the  complete 
manifestation  of  every  one's  individuality.  To  be  that  which 
he  naturally  is — to  do  just  what  he  would  spontaneously  do — 
is  essential  to  the  full  happiness  of  each,  and  therefore  to  the 
greatest  happiness  of  all.  Hence,  in  virtue  of  the  law  of 
adaptation,  our  advance  must  be  towards  a  state  in  which  this 
entire  satisfaction  of  every  desire,  or  perfect  fulfilment  of 
individual  life,  becomes  possible.  In  the  beginning  it  is 
impossible.  If  uncontrolled,  the  impulses  of  the  aboriginal 
man  produce  anarchy.  Either  his  individuality  must  be 
curbed  or  society  must  dissolve.  With  ourselves,  though 
restraint  is  still  needful,  the  private  will  of  the  citizen, 
not  being  so  destructive  of  order,  has  more  play.  And 
further  progress  must  be  towards  increased  sacredness  of 
personal  claims,  and  a  subordination  of  whatever  limits 
them. 

There  are  plenty  of  facts  illustrating  the  thesis  that  under 
primitive  governments  the  repression  of  individuality  is 
17 


254:  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

greatest,  and  that  it  becomes  less  as  we  advance.  Referring 
to  the  people  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  China,  and  Hindostan,  as 
contrasted  with  those  of  Greece,  Mr.  Grote  says — "  The 
religious  and  political  sanction,  sometimes  combined  and 
sometimes  separate,  determined  for  every  one  his  mode  of  life, 
his  creed,  his  duties,  and  his  place  in  society,  without  leaving 
any  scope  for  the  will  or  reason  of  the  individual  himself." 
The  ownership  of  people  by  rulers,  from  its  pure  form  under 
Darius,  through  its  various  modifications  down  to  the  time  of 
" L'etat  c'est  moi"  and  as  even  still  typified  among  ourselves 
in  the  expression,  "  my  subjects,"  must  be  considered  as  a 
greater  or  less  merging  of  many  individualities  in  one.  The 
parallel  relationships  of  slaves  or  serfs  to  their  master,  and  of 
the  family  to  its  head,  have  implied  the  same  thing.  In  short, 
all  despotisms,  whether  political  or  religious,  whether  of  sex, 
of  caste,  or  of  custom,  may  be  generalized  as  limitations  to 
individuality,  which  it  is  in  the  nature  of  civilization  to 
remove. 

Of  course,  in  advancing  from  the  one  extreme,  in  which 
the  State  is  everything  and  the  individual  nothing,  to  the 
other  extreme,  in  which  the  individual  is  everything  and  the 
State  nothing,  society  must  pass  through  many  modified 
structures.  Aristocracy  and  democracy  are  not,  as  they  have 
been  called,  separate  and  conflicting  principles ;  but  they  and 
their  various  mixtures  with  each  other  and  with  monarchy, 
mark  the  stages  in  this  progress  towards  complete  individual- 
ity. Nor  is  it  only  by  amelioration  of  governmental  forms 
that  the  growth  of  private  claims  as  opposed  to  public  ones  is 
shown.  It  is  shown,  too,  by  the  alteration  in  voluntary 
unions — in  political  parties,  for  instance ;  the  manifest 
tendency  of  which  is  towards  dissolution  by  internal  divis- 
ions by  diminution  of  power  over  their  members,  by  increas- 
ing heterogeneity  of  opinion  :  that  is — by  the  spread  of  a 
personal  independence  fatal  to  them.  Still  better  do  the 
changes  in  religious  organizations  illustrate  this  law.  That 
multiplication  of  sects  which  has  been  going  on  in  these  latter 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  255 

times  with  increasing  rapidity,  and  which  is  now  so  abundant- 
ly exemplified  by  the  severing  of  the  Establishment  into 
Evangelical,  High  Church,  and  Puseyite ;  again,  by  the  Free 
Church  secession ;  again,  by  the  schism  of  the  Methodists ; 
again,  by  Unitarian  differences ;  again,  by  the  splitting-off  of 
numberless  local  congregations  not  to  be  classed ;  and,  again,  by 
the  preaching  that  identity  of  opinion  should  not  be  the  bond 
of  union — the  universal  tendency  to  separate  thus  exhibited, 
is  simply  one  of  the  ways  in  which  a  growing  assertion  of 
individuality  comes  out.  Ultimately,  by  continual  sub- 
division, what  we  call  sects  will  disappear ;  and  in  place  of 
that  artificial  uniformity  obtained  by  stamping  men  after 
an  authorized  pattern,  there  will  arise  one  of  Nature's 
uniformities — a  general  similarity  qualified  by  numerous 
small  differences. 

From  the  point  of  view  now  arrived  at,  we  may  discern 
how  what  is  termed  in  our  artificial  classifications  of  truth, 
morality,  is  essentially  one  with  physical  truth — is,  in  fact,  a 
species  of  transcendental  physiology.  That  condition  of 
things  dictated  by  the  law  of  equal  freedom — that  condition 
in  which  the  individuality  of  each  may  be  unfolded  without 
limit,  save  the  like  individualities  of  others — that  condition 
towards  which,  as  we  have  just  seen,  men  are  progressing, 
is  a  condition  towards  which  the  whole  creation  tends. 
Already  it  has  been  incidentally  pointed  out  that  only  by 
entire  fulfilment  of  the  moral  law  can  life  become  complete ; 
and  now  we  shall  find  that  all  life  whatever  may  be  defined 
as  a  quality,  of  which  aptitude  to  fulfil  this  law  is  the  highest 
manifestation. 

A  theory  of  life  developed  by  Coleridge  has  prepared  the 
way  for  this  generalization  "  By  life,"  says  he,  "  I  every- 
where mean  the  true  idea  of  life,  or  that  most  general  form 
under  which  life  manifests  itself  to  us,  which  includes  all 
other  forms.  This  I  have  stated  to  be  the  tendency  to  indi- 
mdualion  •  and  the  degrees  or  intensities  of  life  to  consist  in 


256  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

the  progressive  realizations  of  this  tendency."  *  To  make  this 
definition  intelligible,  a  few  of  the  facts  sought  to  be  expressed 
by  it  must  be  specified — facts  exemplifying  the  contrast 
between  low  and  high  types  of  structure,  and  low  and  high 
degrees  of  vitality. 

Restricting  our  illustrations  to  the  animal  kingdom,  and 
beginning  where  the  vital  attributes  are  most  obscure,  we 
have,  for  instance,  in  the  Porifera,  creatures  consisting  of 
nothing  but  amorphous  semi-fluid  jelly,  supported  upon  horny 
fibres  (sponge).  This  jelly  possesses  no  sensitiveness,  has  no 
organs,  absorbs  nutriment  from  the  water  which  permeates  its 
mass,  and,  if  cut  in  pieces,  lives  on,  in  each  part,  as  before. 
So  that  this  "  gelatinous  film,"  as  it  has  been  called,  shows 
little  more  individuality  than  a  lump  of  inanimate  matter ; 
for,  like  that,  it  has  no  greater  completeness  than  the  pieces 
it  is  divided  into.  In  some  compound  polyps  which  stand 
next,  and  with  which  Coleridge  commences,  the  progress 
towards  individuality  is  manifest ;  for  there  is  now  distinc- 

*  At  the  time  I  wrote  this  I  was  not  aware  that  Coleridge  was  indebted 
to  Schelling  for  this  idea.  When  in  1864,  while  writing  The  Classification 
of  the  Sciences,  and  seeking  for  the  most  general  truth  presented  by  physi- 
cal changes,  it  became  manifest  that  everywhere  and  always  there  goes  on 
either  integration  of  matter  and  concomitant  dissipation  of  motion,  or  ab- 
sorption of  motion  and  concomitant  disintegration  of  matter — when  it 
became  manifest  that  the  integration  of  matter  and  concomitant  dissipa- 
tion of  motion,  is  the  primary  trait  of  all  Evolution,  a  light  was  thrown  on 
this  idea  of  Schelling  The  conception  of  an  individual  is  a  metaphysical 
one,  and  the  tendency  to  individuation  cannot  be  represented  in  physical 
terms.  But  since  the  integration  of  matter  and  concomitant  dissipation  of 
motion,  is  a  process  by  which  there  is  formed  an  aggregate — a  distinct 
object — an  individual  something;  it  is  clear  that  the  primary  process  of 
Evolution  may,  when  looked  at  apart  from  any  physical  interpretation,  be 
considered  as  resulting  from  a  tendency  to  individuation.  It  is  clear,  too, 
that  this  is  not  a  trait  of  living  things  alone,  but  is  a  trait  of  all  evolving 
things,  inorganic  as  well  as  organic,  and  that  only  by  a  forced  and  artificial 
meaning  given  to  the  word  "  life,"  can  it  be  regarded  as  a  definition  of  life. 
1  have,  however,  thought  it  best  to  let  the  argument  which  runs  through- 
•out  the  following  pages  retain  its  original  shape.  The  reader  will  easily 
translate  the  successive  statements  into  evolutionary  language. 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  257 

tion  of  parts.  To  the  gelatinous  mass  with  canals  running 
through  it,  we  have  superadded,  in  the  Alcyonidce,  a  number 
of  digestive  sacks,  with  accompanying  mouths  and  tentacles. 
Here  is,  evidently,  a  partial  segregation  into  individualities. 
There  is  still  complete  community  of  nutrition,  while  each 
polyp  has  a  certain  independent  sensitiveness  and  contractility. 
Let  us  look  next  at  the  common  Hydrw,  or  fresh-water  polyps 
of  our  ponds.  These  creatures  multiply  by  gemmation,  that 
is,  by  the  budding  out  of  young  ones  from  the  body  of  the 
parent.  "  During  the  first  period  of  the  formation  of  these 
sprouts,  they  are  evidently  continuous  with  the  general  sub- 
stance from  which  they  arise ;  and  even  when  considerably 
perfected,  and  possessed  of  an  internal  cavity  and  tentacula, 
their  stomachs  freely  communicate  with  that  of  their  parent. 
....  As  soon  as  the  newly-formed  hydra  is  capable  of 
catching  prey,  it  begins  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  its 
parent ;  the  food  which  it  captures  passing  through  the  aper- 
ture at  its  base  into  the  body  of  the  original  polyp.  At  length, 
when  the  young  is  fully  formed,  and  ripe  for  independent 
existence,  the  point  of  union  between  the  two  becomes  more 
and  more  slender,  until  a  slight  effort  on  the  part  of  either  is 

sufficient  to  detach  them,  and  the  process  is  completed 

Sometimes  six  or  seven  gemmae  have  been  observed  to  sprout 
at  once  from  the  same  hydra ;  and  although  the  whole  pro- 
cess is  concluded  in  twenty-four  hours,  not  unfrequently  a 
third  generation  may.  be  observed  springing  from  the  newly- 
formed  polyps  even  before  their  separation  from  their  parent ; 
eighteen  have  in  this  manner  been  seen  united  into  one 
group."*  Here  is  a  creature  which  cannot  strictly  be  called 
either  simple  or  compound.  In  the  alcyonide  polyp  many 
individuals  are  permanently  united  together.  In  this  genus 
they  are  temporarily  united,  in  so  far  as  particular  indi- 
viduals are  concerned,  but  otherwise  permanenlly  so;  for 


*  A  General  Outline  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,    By  Professor  T.  R.  Jones, 
F.G.S. 


258  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

there  is  always  a  group,  though  that  group  keeps  changing 
its  members. 

In  independent  organisms  the  law  is  still  seen  in  successive 
improvements  of  structure.  By  greater  individuality  of  parts 
—by  greater  distinctness  in  the  natures  and  functions  of 
these,  all  creatures  possessing  high  vitality  are  distinguished 
from  inferior  ones.  Those  Hydra  just  referred  to,  which  are 
mere  bags,  with  tentacles  round  their  orifices,  may  be  cut 
into  parts  with  impunity :  the  parts  severally  undertake  all 
the  functions.  Here,  then,  is  evidently  no  speciality  of 
character ;  the  duties  of  all  structures  are  performed  by  one 
tissue,  which  is  not  yet  individualized  into  seaprate  organs, 
adapted  to  separate  ends.  The  individuation  of  organs  is 
traceable  throughout  the  whole  range  of  animal  life. 

The  changes  of  vital  manifestation  associated  with,  and 
consequent  upon,  these  changes  of  structure,  have  the  same 
significance.  To  possess  a  greater  variety  of  senses,  of 
instincts,  of  powers,  of  qualities — to  be  more  complex  in 
character  and  attributes,  is  to  be  more  distinguishable  from 
all  other  things ;  or  to  exhibit  a  more  marked  individuality. 
For,  manifestly,  as  there  are  some  properties  which  all 
entities,  organic  and  inorganic,  have  in  common,  namely, 
weight,  mobility,  inertia,  &c. ;  and  as  there  are  additional 
properties  which  all  organic  entities  have  in  common,  namely, 
powers  of  growth  and  multiplication ;  and  as  there  are  yet 
further  properties  which  the  higher  organic  entities  have  in 
common,  namely,  sight,  hearing,  &c. ;  then  those  still  higher 
organic  entities  possessing  characteristics  not  shared  in  by 
the  rest,  thereby  differ  from  a  larger  number  of  entities  than 
the  rest,  and  differ  in  more  points — that  is,  are  more  separate, 
more  individual.  Observe,  again,  that  the  greater  power  of 
self-preservation  shown  by  beings  of  superior  type  may  also 
be  generalized  under  this  same  term — a  "  tendency  to  indi- 
viduation." The  lower  the  organism,  the  more  it  is  at  the 
mercy  of  external  circumstances.  It  is  continually  liable  to 
be  destroyed  by  the  elements,  by  want  of  food,  by  enemies ; 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  259 

and  eventually  is  so  destroyed  in  nearly  all  cases.  That  is, 
it  lacks  power  to  preserve  its  individuality.  Conversely, 
where  there  is  strength,  sagacity,  swiftness  (all  of  them 
indicative  of  superior  structure),  there  is  correspond- 
ing ability  to  prevent  the  individuality  from  being  so 
easily  dissolved ;  and  therefore  the  individuation  is  more 
complete. 

In  man  we  see  the  highest  manifestation  of  this  tendency. 
By  virtue  of  his  complexity  of  structure,  he  is  furthest 
removed  from  the  inorganic  world  in  which  there  is  least 
individuality.  Again,  his  intelligence  and  adaptability  com- 
monly enable  him  to  maintain  life  to  old  age — to  complete 
the  cycle  of  his  existence ;  that  is,  to  fill  out  the  limits  of 
this  individuality  to  the  full.  Again,  he  is  self-conscious ; 
that  is,  he  recognizes  his  own  individuality.  And,  as  lately 
shown,  even  the  change  observable  in  human  affairs  is  still 
towards  a  greater  development  of  individuality — may  still  be 
described  as  "  a  tendency  to  individuation." 

But  note  lastly,  and  note  chiefly,  as  being  the  fact  to 
which  the  foregoing  sketch  is  introductory,  that  what  we 
call  the  moral  law — the  law  of  equal  freedom — is  the  law 
under  which  individuation  becomes  perfect ;  and  that  ability 
to  recognize  and  act  up  to  this  law,  is  the  final  endowrment 
of  humanity — an  endowment  now  in  process  of  evolution. 
The  increasing  assertion  of  personal  rights,  is  an  increasing 
demand  that  the  external  conditions  needful  to  a  complete 
unfolding  of  the  individuality  shall  be  respected.  Not  only 
is  there  now  a  consciousness  of  individuality,  and  an  intelli- 
gence whereby  individuality  may  be  preserved  ;  but  there  is  a 
perception  that  the  sphere  of  action  requisite  for  due  devel- 
opment of  the  individuality  may  be  claimed ;  and  a  correla- 
tive desire  to  claim  it.  And  when  the  change  at  present 
going  on  is  complete,  none  will  be  hindered  from  duly  un- 
folding their  natures ;  for  while  every  one  maintains  his  own 
claims,  he  will  respect  the  like  claims  of  others.  Then,  there 
will  no  longer  be  legislative  restrictions  and  legislative'  bur- 


260  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

dens ;  for  by  the  same  process  these  will  have  become  both 
needless  and  impossible.  Then  will  there  exist  beings  whose 
individualities  can  be  expanded  to  the  full  in  all  directions. 
And  thus,  perfect  morality,  perfect  individuation,  and  perfect 
life  will  be  simultaneously  realized. 

Yet  must  this  highest  individuation  be  joined  with  the 
greatest  mutual  dependence.  Paradoxical  though  the  asser- 
tion looks,  the  progress  is  at  once  towards  complete  separate- 
ness  and  complete  union.  But  the  separateness  is  of  a  kind 
consistent  with  the  most  complex  combinations  for  fulfilling 
social  wants ;  and  the  union  is  of  a  kind  that  does  not  hin- 
der entire  development  of  each  personality.  Civilization  is 
evolving  a  state  of  things  and  a  kind  of  character,  in  which 
two  apparently  conflicting  requirements  are  reconciled.  To 
achieve  the  greatest  sum  of  happiness,  there  must,  on  the  one 
hand,  exist  an  amount  of  population  maintainable  only  by 
the  best  possible  system  of  production ;  that  is,  by  the  most 
elaborate  subdivision  of  labour ;  that  is,  by  the  extremest 
mutual  dependence;  while  on  the  other  hand,  each  indi- 
vidual must  have  the  opportunity  to  do  whatever  his  desires 
prompt.  Clearly,  these  two  conditions  can  be  harmonized 
only  by  the  adaptation  humanity  is  undergoing — that  process 
during  which  all  desires  inconsistent  with  the  most  perfect 
social  organization  are  dying  out,  and  other  desires  corre- 
sponding to  such  an  organization  are  being  developed.  How 
this  will  eventuate  in  producing  at  once  perfect  individuation 
and  perfect  mutual  dependence,  may  not  be  at  once  obvious ; 
but  probably  an  illustration  will  sufficiently  elucidate  the 
matter.  Here  are  certain  domestic  affections,  which  can  be 
gratified  only  by  the  establishment  of  relationships  with  other 
beings.  In  the  absence  of  those  beings,  and  the  consequent 
dormancy  of  the  feelings  with  which  they  are  regarded,  life 
is  incomplete — the  individuality  is  shorn  of  its  fair  propor- 
tions. Now  as  the  normal  unfolding  of  the  conjugal  and 
parental  elements  of  the  individuality,  depends  on  having  a 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  261 

family ;  so,  when  civilization  becomes  complete,  will  the 
normal  unfolding  of  all  other  elements  of  the  individuality 
depend  upon  the  existence  of  the  civilized  state.  Just  that 
kind  of  individuality  will  be  acquired  which  finds  in  the 
most  highly-organized  community  the  fittest  sphere  for  its 
manifestation — which  finds  in  each  social  arrangement  a  con- 
dition answering  to  some  faculty  in  itself — which  could  not, 
in  fact,  expand  at  all,  if  otherwise  circumstanced.  The  ulti- 
mate man  will  be  one  whose  private  requirements  coincide 
with  public  ones.  He  will  be  that  manner  of  man  who, 
in  spontaneously  fulfilling  his  own  nature,  incidentally 
performs  the  functions  of  a  social  unit;  and  yet  is  only 
enabled  so  to  fulfil  his  own  nature  by  all  others  doing  the 
like. 

How  truly,  indeed,  human  progress  is  towards  greater 
mutual  dependence,  as  well  as  towards  greater  individuation 
— how  truly  the  welfare  of  each  is  daily  more  involved  in  the 
welfare  of  all — and  how  truly,  therefore,  it  is  the  interest  of 
each  to  respect  the  interests  of  all,  may,  with  advantage,  be 
illustrated  at  length ;  for  it  is  a  fact  of  which  many  seem 
wofully  ignorant.  Men  cannot  break  that  vital  law  of  the 
social  organism — the  law  of  equal  freedom — without  penal- 
ties in  some  way  or  other  coming  round  to  them.  Being 
themselves  members  of  the  community,  they  are  affected  by 
whatever  affects  it.  Upon  the  goodness  or  badness  of  its 
state  depends  the  greater  or  less  efficiency  with  which  it 
ministers  to  their  wants ;  and  the  less  or  greater  amount  of 
evil  it  inflicts  on  them.  Through  those  vicious  arrangements 
that  hourly  gall  them,  they  feel  the  accumulated  result  of  all 
sins  against  the  social  law :  their  own  sins  included.  And 
they  suffer  for  these  sins,  not  only  in  extra  restraints  and 
alarms,  but  in  the  extra  labour  and  expense  required  to  com- 
pass their  ends. 

That  every  trespass  produces  a  reaction,  partly  general 
and  partly  special — a  reaction  which  is  extreme  in  propor- 


262  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

tion  as  the  trespass  is  great — has  been  more  or  less  noticed  in 
all  ages.  Thus  the  remark  is  as  old  as  the  time  of  Thales, 
that  tyrants  rarely  die  natural  deaths.  From  his  day  to  ours, 
the  thrones  of  the  East  have  been  continually  stained  with 
the  blood  of  their  successive  occupants.  The  early  histories 
of  all  European  States,  and  the  recent  history  of  Russia, 
illustrate  the  same  truth  ;  and  if  we  are  to  judge  by  his  habits, 
the  present  Czar  lives  in  constant  fear  of  assassination.*  Nor 
do  we  find  that  those  who  bear  universal  sway,  and  seem  able 
to  do  as  they  please,  can  really  do  so.  They  limit  their  own 
freedom  in  limiting  that  of  others :  their  despotism  recoils, 
and  puts  them  also  in  bondage.  We  read,  for  instance,  that 
the  Roman  emperors  were  the  puppets  of  their  soldiers. 
"  In  the  Byzantine  palace,"  says  Gibbon,  "  the  emperor  was 
the  first  slave  of  the  ceremonies  he  imposed."  Speaking  of 
the  tedious  etiquette  of  the  time  of  Louis  Le  Grand,  Madame 
de  Maintenon  remarks — "  Save  those  only  who  fill  the  high- 
est stations,  I  know  of  none  more  unfortunate  than  those 
who  envy  them.  If  you  could  only  form  an  idea  of  what  it 
is ! "  The  same  reaction  is  felt  by  slave-owners  Some  of 
the  West  India  planters  have  acknowleged  that  before  negro 
emancipation  they  were  the  greatest  slaves  on  their  estates. 
The  Americans,  too,  are  shackled  .in  various  ways  by  their 
own  injustice.  In  the  South,  the  whites  are  self-coerced, 
that  they  may  coerce  the  blacks.  Marriage  with  one  of  the 
mixed  race  is  forbidden ;  there  is  a  slave-owning  qualification 
for  senators ;  a  man  may  not  liberate  his  own  slaves  without 
leave ;  and  only  at  the  risk  of  lynching  can  any  one  say  a 
word  in  favour  of  abolition. 

It  is,  indeed,  becoming  clear  to  most  that  habitual  gross 
transgressions  return  upon  the  perpetrators — that "  this  even- 
handed  justice  commends  the  ingredients  of  our  poisoned 


*  Nicholas  was  emperor  when  this  was  written  •  but  though  he  died 
from  natural  causes  his  son  was  assassinated,  and  his  grandson  .has  been 
more  than  once  nearly  assassinated. 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  263 

chalice  to  our  own  lips  " ;  but  it  is  not  yet  clear  to  them  that 
the  like  is  true  of  these  lesser  transgressions  they  themselves 
persist  in.  Probably  the  modern  maintainers  of  class  power 
can  see  well  enough  that  their  feudal  ancestors  paid  dearly 
for  keeping  the  masses  in  thraldom.  They  can  see  that, 
what  with  armour  and  hidden  mail,  dimly-lighted  rooms, 
precautions  against  poison,  and  constant  fears  of  treachery, 
these  barons  had  but  uncomfortable  lives.  They  can  see 
that  in  Jacqueries,  in  Gallician  massacres,  and  French  revo- 
lutions, there  arrive  fatal  settlements  of  long-standing  bal- 
ances. But  they  cannot  see  that  their  own  inequitable  deeds, 
in  one  way  or  other,  come  home  to  them.  Just  as  these 
feudal  nobles  mistook  the  evils  they  suffered  under  for  un- 
alterable ordinations  of  Nature,  never  dreaming  that  they 
were  the  reflex  results  of  tyranny,  so  do  their  descendants 
fail  to  perceive  that  many  of  their  own  unhappinesses  are 
similarly  generated. 

And  yet,  while  in  some  cases  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
trace  the  secret  channels  through  which  our  misbehaviour  to 
others  returns  upon  us,  there  are  other  cases  in  which  the 
reaction  is  palpable.  People  rushing  out  of  a  theatre 
on  fire,  and  in  their  eagerness  to  get  before  one  another 
jamming  up  the  doorways,  offer  a  good  example  of  unjust 
selfishness  defeating  itself.  In  such  cases  it  is  clear  enough, 
that  by  trespassing  upon  the  claims  of  others,  men  hurt 
themselves  also.  The  reaction  is  here  direct  and  immediate. 
In  other  cases  reaction  comes  round  by  some  circuitous 
route,  or  after  a  considerable  lapse  of  time,  or  in  an  unrec- 
ognized form.  The  squire  who  thinks  it  good  policy  to 
clear  his  estate  of  cottages,  and  saddle  some  other  place 
with  the  paupers,  forgets  that  landowners  in  neighbouring 
parishes  will  eventually  defeat  him  by  doing  the  same  ;  or 
that  if  he  is  so  situated  as  to  settle  his  labourers  on  a  town, 
the  walking  of  extra  miles  to  and  fro  must  lower  the  standard 
of  a  day's  work,  raise  the  cost  of  cultivation,  and,  in  the 
end,  decrease  rent.  Nor  does  he  see  that  by  the  overcrowded 


264:  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

bedrooms  and  neglected  repairs'  to  which  this  policy  leads,  he 
is  generating  debility  or  disease,  and  raising  his  poor's-rates 
in  one  way,  while  he  lowers  them  in  another.  The  Dorset- 
shire farmer  who  pays  wages  in  tailings  of  wheat  charged 
above  market  price,  imagines  he  is  economizing.  It  never 
occurs  to  him  that  he  loses  more  than  the  difference  by  petty 
thefts,  by  the  destruction  of  his  hedges  for  fuel,  by  the  con- 
sequent pounding  of  his  cattle,  and  by  the  increase  of  county- 
rates  for  the  prosecution  of  robbers  and  poachers.  It  seems 
very  clear  to  the  tradesman  that  all  extra  profit  made  by 
adulterating  goods,  is  so  much  pure  gain  ;  and  for  a  while, 
perhaps,  it  may  be.  By-and-by,  however,  his  competitors  do 
as  he  does,  and  the  rate  of  profit  is  then  brought  down  to 
what  it  was  before.  Meanwhile  the  general  practice  of  adul- 
teration has  been  encouraged — has  got  into  other  departments 
— has  deteriorated  the  articles  our  shopkeeper  buys ;  and  thus, 
in  his  capacity  of  consumer,  he  suffers  from  the  vicious 
system  he  has  helped  to  strengthen.  When,  during  negro 
apprenticeship,  the  West  Indian  planters  had  to  value  slaves 
who  wished  to  buy  themselves  off,  before  "  the  Queen's  free," 
they  no  doubt  thought  it  cunning  to  make  oath  to  a  higher 
worth  per  day  than  the  true  one.  But  when,  afterwards, 
having  to  pay  wages,  they  had  their  own  estimates  quoted  to 
them,  and  found  that  the  negoes  would  take  nothing  less, 
they  probably  repented  their  dishonesty.  It  is  often  long 
before  these  recoils  come ;  but  they  do  come,  nevertheless. 
See  how  the  Irish  landlords  have  been  punished  for  their 
rack-renting,  their  encouragement  of  middlemen,  and  their 
recklessness  of  popular  welfare.  Note,  too,  how  for  having 
abetted  those  who  wronged  Ireland,  England  has  to  pay  a 
penalty  in  the  shape  of  loans  which  are  not  refunded,  and  in 
the  misery  produced  by  the  swarms  of  indigent  immigrants, 
who  tend  to  bring  down  her  own  people  to  their  level.  Be 
they  committed  by  many  or  by  few,  breaches  of  equity  are 
in  the  long  run  self-defeating.  While  men  continue  social 
units,  they  cannot  transgress  the  life-principle  of  society 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  265 

without  disastrous  consequences  somehow  or  other  coming 
back  upon  them. 

Not  only  does  the  ultimate  welfare  of  the  citizen  demand 
that  he  should  himself  conform  to  the  moral  law ;  it  also 
concerns  him  that  every  one  else  should  conform  to  it.  This 
inter-dependence  which  the  social  state  necessitates  makes 
all  men's  business  his  business,  in  an  indirect  way.  To 
people  whose  eyes  do  not  wander  beyond  their  ledgers/  it 
seems  of  no  consequence  how  the  affairs  of  mankind  go.  They 
think  they  know  better  than  to  trouble  themselves  about 
public  matters,  making  enemies  and  damaging  their  trade. 
Yet  if  they  are  indeed  so  selfish  as  to  care  nothing  for 
their  fellow-creatures  while  their  own  flesh-pots  are  well 
filled,  let  them  learn  that  they  have  a  pounds,  shillings,,  and 
pence  interest  at  stake.  Mere  pocket-prudence  should  induce 
them  to  further  human  welfare,  if  no  higher  motive  will.  Can 
they  not  see  that  when  buying  meat  and  bread  and  groceries, 
they  have  to  give  something  towards  maintaining  prisons 
and  police  ?  Can  they  not  see  that  in  the  price  of  a  coat 
they  are  charged  a  large  per-centage  to  cover  the  tailor's  bad 
debts  ?  Every  transaction  of  their  lives  is  in  some  way 
hampered  by  the  general  immorality.  They  feel  it  in  the 
rate  of  interest  demanded  for  capital,  which  (neglecting 
temporary  variations)  is  high  in  proportion  as  men  are  bad.* 
They  feel  it  in  the  amount  of  attorneys'  bills ;  or  in  having 
to  suffer  robbery,  lest  the  law  should  commit  on  them  greater 
robbery.  They  feel  it  in  their  share  of  the  two  and  a  half 
millions  a  year  which  our  metallic  currency  costs.  They  feel 
it  in  those  collapses  of  trade  which  follow  extensive  gambling 
speculations.  It  seems  to  them  an  absurd  waste  of  time  to 


*  When  dishonesty  and  improvidence  are  extreme,  capital  cannot  be 
had  under  30  to  40  per  cent.,  as  in  the  Burmese  empire,  or  in  England 
during  the  reign  of  King  John.— See  Mill's  Principles  of  Political 
Economy. 


266  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

help  in  spreading  independence  among  men ;  and  yet,  did 
they  call  to  mind  how  those  railway-shares,  which  they 
bought  at  a  premium,  went  down  to  a  ruinous  discount  be- 
cause the  other  directors  cringed  to  a  rich  bully,  they  would 
learn  that  the  prevalence  of  a  manly  spirit  may  become  of 
money-value  to  them.  They  suppose  themselves  uncon- 
cerned in  the  quarrels  of  neighbouring  nations ;  and  yet,  on 
examination,  they  will  find  that  a  Hungarian  war  by  the 
loans  it  calls  for,  or  a  Danish  blockade  by  its  influence  on 
our  commerce,  more  or  less  remotely  affects  their  profits,  in 
whatever  secluded  nook  of  England  they  may  live.  Their 
belief  is  that  they  are  not  at  all  interested  in  the  good  Govern- 
ment of  India ;  and  yet  a  little  reflection  would  show  them 
that  they  continually  suffer  from  those  fluctuations  of  trade 
consequent  on  the  irregular  and  insufficient  supply  of  cotton 
from  America — fluctuations  which  would  probably  have 
ceased,  had  not  India  been  exhausted  by  its  rulers'  extrava- 
gance. Not  interested  ?  Why  even  the  better  education  of 
the  Chinese  is  of  moment  to  them,  for  Chinese  prejudice 
shuts  out  English  merchants.  Not  interested  ?  Why  they 
have  a  stake  in  the  making  of  American  railways  and  canals, 
for  these  ultimately  affect  the  price  of  bread  in  England. 
Not  interested  ?  Why  the  accumulation  of  wealth  by  every 
people  on  the  face  of  the  Earth  concerns  them ;  for  while  it 
is  the  law  of  capital  to  overflow  from  those  places 
where  it  is  abundant  to  those  where  it  is  scarce,  rich 
nations  can  never  fully  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  own 
labour  until  other  nations  are  rich.  The  well  ordering  of 
human  affairs  in  the  remotest  communities  is  beneficial  to 
all  men :  the  ill  ordering  of  them  injurious  to  all  men. 
And  though  the  citizen  may  be  but  slightly  acted  upon 
by  each  particular  good  or  evil  influence  at  work  within 
his  own  society,  and  still  more  slightly  by  each  of  those  at 
work  within  other  societies — although  the  effect  on  him 
may  be  infinitesimal,  yet  it  is  on  the  cumulative  result 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  267 

of  myriads  of  these  infinitesimal  influences  that  his  happi- 
ness or  misery  depends. 

Still  more  clearly  seen  is  this  inter-weaving  of  personal 
interests  with  social  interests,  when  we  discover  how  essen- 
tially vital  is  the  connection  between  each  person  and  the 
society  of  which  he  is  a  unit.  We  commonly  enough  com- 
pare a  nation  to  a  living  organism.  We  speak  of  "  the  body 
politic,"  of  the  functions  of  its  parts,  of  its  growth,  and  of  its 
diseases,  as  though  it  were  a  creature.  But  we  usually  em- 
ploy these  expressions  as  metaphors,  little  suspecting  how 
close  is  the  analogy,  and  how  far  it  will  bear  carrying  out. 
So  completely,  however,  is  a  society  organized  on  the  same 
system  as  an  individual  being,  that  we  may  perceive  some- 
thing more  than  analogy  between  them.  Let  us  look  at  a 
few  of  the  facts. 

Observe,  first,  that  the  parallel  becomes  far  clearer  when 
we  learn  that  the  body  of  any  ordinary  animal  is  itself  com- 
pounded of  innumerable  microscopic  organisms,  which  possess 
a  kind  of  independent  vitality,  which  grow  by  imbibing  nutri- 
ment from  the  circulating  fluids,  and  which  multiply,  as  the 
infusorial  monads  do,  by  spontaneous  fission.  The  whole  pro- 
cess of  development,  beginning  with  the  first  change  in  the 
ovum  and  ending  with  the  production  of  an  adult  creature,  is 
fundamentally  a  perpetual  increase  in  the  number  of  these 
cells  by  the  mode  of  fissiparous  generation.  On  the  other 
hand,  that  gradual  decay  witnessed  in  old  age,  is  in  essence  a 
cessation  of  this  increase.  During  health,  the  vitality  of 
these  cells  is  subordinated  to  that  of  the  system  at  large ; 
and  the  presence  of  insubordinate  cells  implies  disease.  Thus, 
in  the  human  being,  small-pox  arises  from  the  intrusion  of 
a  species  of  cell  foreign  to  that  community  of  cells  of  which 
the  body  consists ; — a  cell  which,  absorbing  nourishment  from 
the  blood,  rapidly  multiplies  by  spontaneous  division,  until 
its  progeny  have  diffused  themselves  throughout  the  tissues ; 
and  if  the  excreting  energies  of  the  system  fail  to  get  rid  of 


268  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

these  aliens,  death  ensues.  In  certain  states  of  body,  indige- 
nous cells  take  on  new  forms  of  life ;  and,  by  continuing  to 
reproduce  their  like,  give  origin  to  parasitic  growths,  such  as 
cancer.  Under  the  microscope,  cancer  can  be  identified  by  a 
specific  element,  known  as  the  cancer-cell.  Hence  we  are 
warranted  in  considering  the  body  as  a  commonwealth  of 
monads,  each  of  which  has  independent  powers  of  life, 
growth,  and  reproduction  ;  each'of  which  unites  with  a  num- 
ber of  others  to  perform  some  function  needful  for  support- 
ing itself  and  all  the  rest ;  and  each  of  which  absorbs  its 
share  of  nutriment  from  the  blood.  And  when  thus  re- 
garded, the  analogy  between  an  individual  being  and  a  hu- 
man society,  in  which  each  man,  while  helping  to  subserve 
some  public  want,  absorbs  a  portion  of  the  circulating  stock 
of  commodities  brought  to  his  door,  is  palpable  enough. 

A  still  more  remarkable  fulfilment  of  this  analogy  is  seen 
in  the  fact,  that  the  different  kinds  of  organization  which 
society  takes  on,  in  progressing  from  its  lowest  to  its  highest 
phase  of  development,  are  similar  in  principle  to  the  different 
kinds  of  animal  organization.  Creatures  of  inferior  types 
are  little  more  than  aggregations  of  numerous  like  parts — 
are  moulded  on  what  Professor  Owen  terms  the  principle  of 
vegetative  repetition;  and  in  tracing  the  forms  assumed 
by  successive  grades  above  these,  we  find  a  gradual  diminu- 
tion in  the  number  of  like  parts,  and  a  multiplication  of 
unlike  ones.  At  the  one  extreme  there  are  but  few  functions, 
and  many  similar  agents  to  each  function  :  at  the  other,  there 
are  many  functions,  and  few  similar  agents  to  each  function. 
Thus  the  visual  apparatus  in  a  fly  consists  of  two  groups  of 
fixed  lenses,  numbering  in  some  species  20,000.  Every  one 
of  these  lenses  produces  an  image ;  but  as  its  field  of  view  is 
extremely  narrow,  and  as  there  exists  no  power  of  adaptation 
to  different  distances,  the  vision  obtained  is  probably  very 
imperfect.  The  mammal,  on  the  other  hand,  possesses  but 
two  eyes ;  but  each  of  these  includes  numerous  appendages. 
It  is  compounded  of  several  refracting  structures,  having 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  269 

different  forms  and  duties.  These  are  capable  of  various 
focal  adjustments.  There  are  muscles  for  directing  them  to 
the  right  and  to  the  left,  to  the  ground  and  to  the  sky. 
There  is  a  curtain  (the  iris)  to  regulate  the  quantity  of  light 
admitted.  There  is  a  gland  to  secrete,  a  tube  to  pour  out, 
and  a  drain  to  carry  off,  the  lubricating  fluid.  There  is  a  lid 
to  wipe  the  surface,  and  there  are  lashes  to  yield  shade  and 
to  give  warning  on  the  approach  of  foreign  bodies.  Now  the 
contrast  between  these  two  kinds  of  visual  organs  is  the 
contrast  between  all  lower  and  higher  types  of  "structure.  If 
we  examine  the  framework  employed  to  support  the  tissues, 
we  find  it  consisting  in  the  Annelida  (the  common  worm,  for 
instance)  of  an  extended  series  of  rings.  In  the  Myriapoda, 
which  stands  next  above  the  Annelida,  these  rings  are  less 
numerous  and  more  dense.  In  the  higher  Myriapoda  they 
are  united  into  a  comparatively  few  large  and  strong  seg- 
ments ;  while  in  the  Insecta  this  condensation  is  carried  still 
further.  Speaking  of  analogous  changes  in  the  crustaceans, 
the  lowest  of  which  is  constructed  much  as  the  centipede, 
and  the  highest  of  which  (the  crab)  has  very  many  of  its 
segments  united,  Professor  Jones  says — "And  even  the  steps 
whereby  we  pass  from  the  Annelidan  to  the  Myriapod,  and 
from  thence  to  the  Insect,  the  Scorpion,  and  the  Spider,  seem 
to  be  repeated  as  we  thus  review  the  progressive  develop- 
ment of  the  class  before  us."  Mark,  again,  that  these  modifi- 
cations of  the  exo-skeleton  are  paralleled  by  those  of  the 
endo-skeleton.  The  vertebrae  are  numerous  in  fish  and  in  the 
ophidian  reptiles.  They  are  less  numerous  in  the  higher 
reptiles;  less  numerous  still  in  mammals;  and  while  their 
number  is  diminished,  their  forms  and  the  functions  of  their 
appendages  are  varied,  instead  of  being,  as  in  the  eel  or  the 
snake,  nearly  all  alike.  Thus,  also,  is  it  with  locomotive 
organs.  The  spines  of  the  echinus  and  the  suckers  of  the 
star-fish  are  multitudinous.  So  likewise  are  the  legs  of  the 
centipede.  In  the  crustaceans  we  come  down  to  f  ourteen; 

twelve,  and  ten ;  in  the  araclmida  and  insects  to  eight  and 
18 


270  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

six ;  in  the  lower  mammalia  to  four ;  and  in  man  to  two. 
The  successive  modifications  of  the  digestive  cavity  are  of 
analogous  nature.  Its  lowest  form  is  that  of  a  sack  with  but 
one  opening.  Next  it  is  a  tube  with  two  openings,  having 
different  offices.  And  in  higher  creatures,  this  tube,  instead 
of  being  made  up  of  absorbents  from  end  to  end — that  is, 
intead  of  being  an  aggregation  of  like  parts — is  modified  into 
many  unlike  ones,  having  different  structures  adapted  to  the 
different  stages  into  which  the  alimentary  function  is  now 
divided.  Even  the  classification  under  which  man,  as  form- 
ing the  order  Bima/na,  is  distinguished  from  the  most  nearly 
related  order  Quadrumana,  is  based  on  a  diminution  in 
the  number  of  organs  which  have  similar  forms  and 
duties. 

Now  just  the  same  coalescence  of  like  parts  and  sepa- 
ration of  unlike  ones — just  the  same  increasing  sub-division 
of  functions — takes  place  in  the  development  of  society.  The 
earliest  social  organisms  consist  almost  wholly  of  repetitions 
of  one  element.  Every  man  is  a  warrior,  hunter,  fishermen, 
builder,  agriculturist,  toolmaker.  Each  portion  of  the  com- 
munity performs  the  same  duties  with  every  other  portion ; 
much  as  each  slice  of  the  polyp's  body  is  alike  stomach,  mus- 
cle, skin,  and  lungs.  Even  the  chiefs,  in  whom  a  tendency 
towards  separateness  of  function  first  appears,  still  retain 
their  similarity  to  the  rest  in  economic  respects.  The  next 
stage  is  distinguished  by  a  segregation  of  these  social  units 
into  a  few  distinct  classes — warriors,  priests,  and  slaves.  A 
further  advance  is  seen  in  the  sundering  of  the  labourers  into 
different  casts,  having  special  occupations,  as  among  the 
Hindoos.  And,  without  further  illustration  the  reader  will 
at  once  perceive,  that  from  these  inferior  types  of  society  up 
to  our  own  complicated  and  more  perfect  one,  the  progress 
has  ever  been  of  the  same  nature.  While  he  will  also  per- 
ceive that  this  coalescence  of  like  parts,  as  seen  in  the  con- 
centration of  particular  manufactures  in  particular  districts, 
and  this  separation  of  agents  having  separate  functions,  as 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  271 

seen  in  the  more  and  more  minute  division  of  labour,  are 
still  going  on.* 

Significant  of  the  alleged  analogy  is  the  further  fact  con- 
sequent upon  the  above,  that  the  sensitiveness  exhibited  by 
societies  of  low  and  high  structures  differs  in  degree,  as  does 
the  sensitiveness  of  similarly-contrasted  creatures.  That 
faculty  possessed  by  inferior  organisms  of  living  on  in  each 
part  after  being  cut  in  pieces,  is  a  manifest  corollary  to  the 
other  peculiarity  just  described ;  namely,  that  they  consist  of 
many  repetitions  of  the  same  elements.  The  ability  of  the 
several  portions  into  which  a  polyp  has  been  divided,  to  grow 
into  complete  polyps,  obviously  implies  that  each  portion  con- 
tains all  the  organs  needful  to  life  :  and  each  portion  can  be 
thus  constituted  only  when  those  organs  recur  in  every  part 
of  the  original  body.  Conversely,  the  reason  why  any  mem- 
ber of  a  more  highly-organized  being  cannot  live  when  sepa- 
rated from  the  rest,  is  that  it  does  not  include  all  the  vital 
elements,  but  is  dependent  for  its  supplies  of  nutriment,  nerv- 
ous energy,  oxygen,  &c.,  upon  the  members  from  which  it 
has  been  cut  off.  Of  course,  then,  the  earliest  and  latest 
forms  of  society,  being  similarly  distinguished  in  structure, 
will  be  similarly  distinguished  in  susceptibility  to  injury. 
Hence  it  happens  that  a  tribe  of  savages  may  be  divided  and 
subdivided  with  little  or  no  inconvenience  to  the  several  sec- 
tions. Each  of  these  contains  every  element  which  the  whole 
did — is  just  as  self-sufficing,  and  quickly  assumes  the  sim- 
ple organization  constituting  an  independent  tribe.  Hence, 
on  the  contrary,  it  happens,  that  in  a  community  like  our 
own,  no  part  can  be  cut  off  or  injured  without  all  parts  suf- 
fering. Annihilate  the  agency  employed  in  distributing 
commodities,  and  much  of  the  rest  would  die  before  another 


*  In  the  generalizations  contained  in  the  two  above  paragraphs,  and  in 
the  recognition  of  their  parallelism,  may  be  seen  the  first  step  towards  the 
general  doctnne  of  Evolution.  Dating  back  as  they  do  to  1850,  they  show 
that  this  first  step  was  taken  earlier  than  I  supposed. 


272  SOCIAL  STATICS. 

distributing  agency  could  be  developed.  Suddenly  sever  the 
manufacturing  portion  from  the  agricultural  portion,  and 
the  one  would  expire  outright,  while  the  other  would  long 
linger  in  grievous  distress.  This  inter-dependence  is  daily 
shown  in  commercial  changes.  Let  the  factory  hands  be 
put  on  short  time,  and  immediately  the  colonial  produce 
markets  of  London  and  Liverpool  are  depressed.  The  shop- 
keeper is  busy  or  otherwise,  according  to  the  amount  of  the 
wheat  crop.  And  a  potato-blight  may  ruin  dealers  in  con- 
sols. 

Thus  do  we  find,  not  only  that  the  analogy  between  a 
society  and  a  living  creature  is  borne  out  to  a  degree  quite 
unsuspected  by  those  who  commonly  draw  it,  but  also  that 
the  same  definition  of  life  applies  to  both.  This  union  of 
many  men  into  one  community — this  increasing  mutual 
dependence  of  units  which  were  originally  independent — this 
gradual  segregation  of  citizens  into  separate  bodies  with 
reciprocally-subservient  functions — this  formation  of  a  whole 
consisting  of  unlike  parts — this  growth  of  an  organism,  of 
which  one  portion  cannot  be  injured  without  the  rest  feeling 
it — may  all  be  generalized  under  the  law  of  individuation. 
The  development  of  society,  as  well  as  the  development  of 
man  and  the  development  of  life  generally,  may  be  described 
as  a  tendency  to  individuate — to  become  a  thing.  And  rightly 
interrupted,  the  manifold  forms  of  progress  going  on  around 
us  are  uniformly  significant  of  this  tendency. 

Returning  now  to  the  point  whence  we  set  out,  the  fact 
that  public  interests  and  private  ones  are  essentially  in  unison, 
cannot  fail  to  be  more  vividly  realized,  when  so  vital  a  con- 
nexion is  found  to  subsist  between  society  and  its  members. 
Though  it  would  be  dangerous  to  place  implicit  trust  in  con- 
clusions founded  upon  the  analogy  just  traced,  yet,  harmoniz- 
ing as  they  do  with  conclusions  deducible  from  every-day 
experience,  they  unquestionably  enforce  these.  When,  after 
observing  the  reactions  entailed  by  breaches  of  equity,  the 
citizen  contemplates  the  relation  in  which  he  stands  to  the 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  273 

body  politic — when  he  learns  that  it  has  a  species  of  life,  and 
conforms  to  the  same  laws  of  growth  and  organization  that  a 
being  does — when  he  finds  that  while  social  health,  in  a  meas- 
ure, depends  on  the  fulfilment  of  some  function  in  which  he 
takes  part,  his  happiness  depends  on  the  normal  action  of 
every  organ  in  the  social  body — when  he  duly  understands 
this ;  he  must  see  that  his  own  welfare  and  all  men's  welfare 
are  inseparable.  He  must  see  that  whatever  produces  a  dis- 
eased state  in  one  part  of  the  community,  must  inevitably 
inflict  injury  upon  all  "other  parts.  He  must  see  that  his 
own  life  can  become  what  it  should  be,  only  as  fast  as  society 
becomes  what  it  should  be.  In  short,  he  must  become  im- 
pressed with  the  salutary  truth,  that  no  one  can  be  perfectly 
free  till  all  are  free  ;  no  one  can  be  perfectly  moral  till  all  are 
moral ;  no  one  can  be  perfectly  happy  till  all  are  happy. 


THE    END. 


THE   MAN 
VERSUS  THE   STATE. 


PEEFAOE. 


THE  Westminister  Review  for  April,  1860,  contained  an 
article  entitled  "  Parliamentary  Reform :  the  Dangers  and  the 
Safeguards."  In  that  article  I  ventured  to  predict  some 
results  of  political  changes  then  proposed. 

Reduced  to  its  simplest  expression,  the  thesis  maintained 
was  that,  unless  due  precautions  were  taken,  increase  of 
freedom  in  form  would  be  followed  by  decrease  of  freedom  in 
fact.  Nothing  has  occurred  to  alter  the  belief  I  then  ex- 
pressed. The  drift  of  legislation  since  that  time  has  been  of 
the  kind  anticipated.  Dictatorial  measures,  rapidly  multiplied, 
have  tended  continually  to  narrow  the  liberties  of  individuals ; 
and  have  done  this  in  a  double  way.  Regulations  have  been 
made  in  yearly-growing  numbers,  restraining  the  citizen  in 
directions  where  his  actions  were  previously  unchecked,  and 
compelling  actions  which  previously  he  might  perform  or  not 
as  he  liked ;  and  at  the  same  time  heavier  public  burdens, 
chiefly  local,  have  further  restricted  his  freedom,  by  lessening 
that  portion  of  his  earnings  which  he  can  spend  as  he  pleases, 
and  augmenting  the  portion  taken  from  him  to  be  spent  as 
public  agents  please. 

The  causes  of  these  foretold  effects,  then  in  operation,  con- 
tinue in  operation — are,  indeed,  likely  to  be  strengthened, 
and  finding  that  the  conclusions  drawn  respecting  these  causes 
and  effects  have  proved  true,  I  have  been  prompted  to  set 
forth  and  emphasize  kindred  conclusions  respecting  the 


278  PREFACE. 

future,  and  do  what  little  may  be  done  towards  awakening 
attention  to  threatened  evils. 

For  this  purpose  were  written  the  four  following  articles, 
originally  published  in  the  Contemporary  Review  for 
February,  April,  May,  June  and  July  of  this  year.  To  meet 
certain  criticisms  and  to  remove  some  of  the  objections  likely 
to  be  raised,  I  have  now  added  a  postscript. 

BAYSWATER,  July,  1884. 


NOTE. — The  foregoing  preface  to  the  original  edition  of 
this  work,  issued  more  than  seven  years  ago,  serves  equally 
well  for  the  present  edition.  I  have  to  add  only  that  beyond 
appending  in  a  note  one  important  illustration,  enforcing  my 
argument,  I  have  done  nothing  to  this  edition  save  making 
various  verbal  improvements,  and  a  small  correction  of  fact. 

AVENUE  ROAD,  REGENT'S  PARK, 
January,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I. — THE  NEW  TORYISM 281 

II. — THE  COMING  SLAVERY  .        .        .    •    .        .        •        .        .        •  "02 

HI. — THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS 334 

IV. — THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION 376 

V. — POSTSCRIPT •  ^12 


THE    MAN    VERSUS  THE    STATE. 


THE  NEW  TOKYISM. 

MOST  of  those  who  now  pass  as  Liberals,  are  Tories  of  a 
new  type.  This  is  a  paradox  which  I  propose  to  justify. 
That  I  may  justify  it,  I  must  first  point  out  what  the  two 
political  parties  originally  were;  and  I  must  then  ask  the 
reader  to  bear  with  me  while  I  remind  him  of  facts  he  is 
familiar  with,  that  I  may  impress  on  him  the  intrinsic  na- 
tures of  Toryism  and  Liberalism  properly  so  called. 

Dating  back  to  an  earlier  period  than  their  names,  the  two 
political  parties  at  first  stood  respectively  for  two  opposed 
.types  of  social  organization,  broadly  distinguishable  as  the 
militant  and  the  industrial — types  which  are  characterized, 
the  one  by  .the  regime  of  status,  almost  universal  in  ancient 
days,  and  the  other  by  the  regime  of  contract,  which  has 
become  general  in  modern  days,  chiefly  among  the  Western 
nations,  and  especially  among  ourselves  and  the  Americans. 
If,  instead  of  using  the  word  "  co-operation "  in  a  limited 
sense,  we  use  it  in  its  widest  sense,  as  signifying  the  com- 
bined activities  of  citizens  under  whatever  system  of  regula- 
tion ;  then  these  two  are  definable  as  the  system  of  compulsory 
co-operation  and  the  system  of  voluntary  co-operation.  The 
typical  structure  of  the  one  we  see  in  an  army  formed  of  con- 
scripts, in  which  the  units  in  their  several  grades  have  to 
fulfil  commands  under  pain  of  death,  and  receive  food  and 


282  THE   MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

clothing  and  pay,  arbitrarily  apportioned ;  while  the  typical 
structure  of  the  other  we  see  in  a  body  of  producers  or  dis- 
tributors, who  severally  agree  to  specified  payments  in  return 
for  specified  services,  and  may  at  will,  after  due  notice,  leave 
the  organization  if  they  do  not  like  it. 

During  social  evolution  in  England,  the  distinction  be- 
tween these  two  fundamentally-opposed  forms  of  co-operation, 
made  its  appearance  gradually;  but  long  before  the  names 
Tory  and  Whig  came  into  use,  the  parties  were  becoming 
traceable,  and  their  connexions  with  militancy  and  industrial- 
ism respectively,  were  vaguely  shown.  The  truth  is  familiar 
that,  here  as  elsewhere,  it  was  habitually  by  town-populations, 
formed  of  workers  and  traders  accustomed  to  co-operate 
under  contract,  that  resistances  were  made  to  that  coercive 
rule  which  characterizes  co-operation  under  status.  While, 
conversely,  co-operation  under  status,  arising  from,  and  ad- 
justed to,  chronic  warfare,  was  supported  in  rural  districts, 
originally  peopled  by  military  chiefs  and  their  dependents, 
where  the  primitive  ideas  and  traditions  survived.  More- 
over, this  contrast  in  political  leanings,  shown  before  Whig 
and  Tory  principles  became  clearly  distinguished,  continued 
to  be  shown  afterwards.  At  the  period  of  the  Revolution, 
"  while  the  villages  and  smaller  towns  were  monopolized  by 
Tories,  the  larger  cities,  the  manufacturing  districts,  and  .the 
ports  of  commerce,  formed  the  strongholds  of  the  Whigs." 
And  that,  spite  of  exceptions,  the  like  general  relation  still  ex- 
ists, needs  no  proving. 

Such  were  the  natures  of  the  two  parties  as  indicated  by 
their  origins.  Observe,  now,  how  their  natures  were  indi- 
cated by  their  early  doctrines  and  deeds.  Whiggism  began 
with  resistance  to  Charles  II.  and  his  cabal,  in  their  efforts 
to  re-establish  unchecked  monarchical  power.  The  Whigs 
"  regarded  the  monarchy  as  a  civil  institution,  established  by 
the  nation  for  the  benefit  of  all  its  members  ; "  while  with  the 
Tories  "the  monarch  was  the  delegate  of  heaven."  And 
these  doctrines  involved  the  beliefs,  the  one  that  subjection 


THE  NEW  TORYISM.  283 

of  citizen  to  ruler  was  conditional,  and  the  other  that  it  was 
unconditional.  Describing  Whig  and  Tory  as  conceived  at 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  some  fifty  years  before 
he  wrote  his  Dissertation  on  Parties,  Bolingbroke  says : — 

"The  power  and  majesty  of  the  people,  and  original  contract,  the 
authority  and  independency  of  Parliaments,  liberty,  resistance,  exclu- 
sion, abdication,  deposition ;  these  were  ideas  associated,  at  that  time, 
to  the  idea  of  a  Whig,  and  supposed  by  every  Whig  to  be  incommu- 
nicable, and  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  a  Tory. 

"Divine,  hereditary,  indefeasible  right,  lineal  succession,  passive 
obedience,  prerogative,  non-resistance,  slavery,  nay,  and  sometimes 
popery  too,  were  associated  in  many  minds  to  the  idea  of  a  Tory,  and 
deemed  incommunicable  and  inconsistent,  in  the  same  manner,  with 
the  idea  of  a  Whig." — Dissertation  on  Parties,  p.  5. 

And  if  we  compare  these  descriptions,  we  see  that  in  the  one 
party  there  was  a  desire  to  resist  and  decrease  the  coercive 
power  of  the  ruler  over  the  subject,  and  in  the  other  party  to 
maintain  or  increase  his  coercive  power.  This  distinction  in 
their  aims — a  distinction  which  transcends  in  meaning  and 
importance  all  other  political  distinctions — was  displayed  in 
their  early  doings.  Whig  principles  were  exemplified  in  the 
Habeas  Corpus  Act,  and  in  the  measure  by  which  judges 
were  made  independent  of  the  Crown  ;  in  defeat  of  the  Non- 
Resisting  Test  Bill,  which  proposed  for  legislators  and  officials 
a  compulsory  oath  that  they  would  in  no  case  resist  the  king 
by  arms;  and,  later,  they  were  exemplified  in  the  Bill  of 
Rights,  framed  to  secure  subjects  against  monarchical  aggres- 
sions. These  Acts  had  the  same  intrinsic  nature.  The  prin- 
ciple of  compulsory  co-operation  throughout  social  life  was 
weakened  by  them,  and  the  principle  of  voluntary  co-opera- 
tion strengthened.  That  at  a  subsequent  period  the  policy 
of  the  party  had  the  same  general  tendency,  is  well  shown 
by  a  remark  of  Mr.  Green  concerning  the  period  of  Whig 
power  after  the  death  of  Anne  : — 

"Before  the  fifty  years  of  their  rule  had  passed,  Englishmen  had 
forgotten  that  it  was  possible  to  persecute  for  differences  of  religion, 


284  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

or  to  put  down  the  liberty  of  the  press,  or  to  tamper  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  or  to  rule  without  a  Parliament." — Short  History,  p. 
705. 

And  now,  passing  over  the  war-period  which  closed  the 
last  century  and  began  this,  during  which  that  extension  of 
individual  freedom  previously  gained  was  lost,  and  the  retro- 
grade movement  towards  the  social  type  proper  to  militancy 
was  shown  by  all  kinds  of  coercive  measures,  from  those 
which  took  by  force  the  persons  and  property  of  citizens  for 
war-purposes  to  those  which  suppressed  public  meetings  and 
sought  to  gag  the  press,  let  us  recall  the  general  characters  of 
those  changes  eifected  by  Whigs  or  Liberals  after  the  re-es- 
tablishmeut  of  peace  permitted  revival  of  the  industrial 
regime  and  return  to  its  appropriate  type  of  structure.  Under 
growing  Whig  influence  there  came  repeal  of  the  laws  for- 
bidding combinations  among  artisans  as  well  as  of  those 
which  interfered  with  their  freedom  of  travelling.  There 
was  the  measure  by  which,  under  Whig  pressure,  Dissenters 
were  allowed  to  believe  as  they  pleased  without  suffering 
'certain  civil  penalties;  and  there  was  the  Whig  measure, 
carried  by  Tories  under  compulsion,  which  enabled  Catholics 
to  profess  their  religion  without  losing  part  of  their  freedom. 
The  area  of  liberty  was  extended  by  Acts  which  forbade  the 
buying  of  negroes  and  the  holding  of  them  in  bondage.  The 
East  India  Company's  monopoly  was  abolished,  and  trade 
with  the  East  made  open  to  all.  The  political  serfdom  of 
the  unrepresented  was  narrowed  in  area,  both  by  the  Reform 
Bill  and  the  Municipal  Reform  Bill ;  so  that  alike  generally 
and  locally,  the  many  were  less  under  the  coercion  of  the 
few.  Dissenters,  no  longer  obliged  to  submit  to  the  ecclesi- 
astical form  of  marriage,  were  made  free  to  wed  by  a  purely 
civil  rite.  Later  came  diminution  and  removal  of  restraints 
on  the  buying  of  foreign  commodities  and  the  employment 
of  foreign  vessels  and  foreign  sailors ;  and  later  still  the  re- 
moval of  those  burdens  on  the  press,  which  were  originally 
imposed  to  hinder  the  diffusion  of  opinion.  And  of  all 


THE  NEW  TORYISM.  285 

these  changes  it  is  unquestionable  that,  whether  made  or  not 
by  Liberals  themselves,  they  were  made  in  conformity  with 
principles  professed  and  urged  by  Liberals. 

But  why  do  I  enumerate  facts  so  well  known  to  all? 
Simply  because,  as  intimated  at  the  outset,  it  seems  needful 
to  remind  everybody  what  Liberalism  was  in  the  past,  that 
they  may  perceive  its  unlikeness  to  the  so-called  Liberalism 
of  the  present.  It  would  be  inexcusable  to  name  these 
various  measures  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out  the  character 
common  to  them,  were  it  not  that  in  our  day  men  have  for- 
gotten their  common  character.  They  do  not  remember  that, 
in  one  or  other  way,  all  these  truly  Liberal  changes  diminished 
compulsory  co-operation  throughout  social  life  and  increased 
voluntary  co-operation.  They  have  forgotten  that,  in  one 
direction  or  other,  they  diminished  the  range  of  governmental 
authority,  and  increased  the  area  within  which  each  citizen 
may  act  unchecked.  They  have  lost  sight  of  the  truth  that 
in  past  times  Liberalism  habitually  stood  for  individual  free- 
dom versus  State-coercion. 

And  now  comes  the  inquiry — How  is  it  that  Liberals  have 
lost  sight  of  this  ?  How  is  it  that  Liberalism,  getting  more 
and  more  into  power,  has  grown  more  and  more  coercive  in 
its  legislation  ?  How  is  it  that,  either  directly  through  its 
own  majorities  or  indirectly  through  aid  given  in  such  cases 
to  the  majorities  of  its  opponents,  Liberalism  has  to  an 
increasing  extent  adopted  the  policy  of  dictating  the  actions 
of  citizens,  and,  by  consequence,  diminishing  the  range 
throughout  which  their  actions  remain  free  ?  How  are  we 
to  explain  this  spreading  confusion  of  thought  which  has 
led  it,  in  pursuit  of  what  appears  to  be  public  good,  to  in- 
vert the  method  by  which  in  earlier  days  it  achieved  public 
good? 

Unaccountable  as  at  first  sight  this  unconscious  change  of 

policy  seems,  we  shall  find  that  it  has  arisen  quite  naturally. 

Given  the  unanalytical  thought  ordinarily  brought  to  bear  on 

political  matters,  and,  under  existing  conditions,  nothing  else 

W 


286  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

was  to  be  expected.     To  make  this  clear  some  parenthetic 
explanations  are  needful. 

From  the  lowest  to  the  highest  creatures,  intelligence  pro- 
gresses by  acts  of  discrimination ;  and  it  continues  so  to 
progress  among  men,  from  the  most  ignorant  to  the  most 
cultured.  To  class  rightly — to  put  in  the  same  group 
things  which  are  of  essentially  the  same  natures,  and  in  other 
groups  things  of  natures  essentially  different — is  the  funda- 
mental condition  to  right  guidance  of  actions.  Beginning 
with  rudimentary  vision,  which  gives  warning  that  some 
large  opaque  body  is  passing  near  (just  as  closed  eyes  turned 
to  the  window,  perceiving  the  shade  caused  by  a  hand  put 
before  them,  tell  us  of  something  moving  in  front),  the 
advance  is  to  developed  vision,  which,  by  exactly-appreciated 
combinations  of  forms,  colours,  and  motions,  identities  objects 
at  great  distances  as  prey  or  enemies,  and  so  makes  it  possible 
to  improve  the  adjustments  of  conduct  for  securing  food  or 
evading  death.  That  progressing  perception  of  differences 
and  consequent  greater  correctness  of  classing,  constitutes, 
under  one  of  its  chief  aspects,  the  growth  of  intelligence,  is 
equally  seen  when  we  pass  from  the  relatively  simple 
physical  vision  to  the  relatively  complex  intellectual  vision 
— the  vision  through  the  agency  of  which,  things  previously 
grouped  by  certain  external  resemblances  or  by  certain 
extrinsic  circumstances,  come  to  be  more  truly  grouped  in 
conformity  with  their  intrinsic  structures  or  natures.  Un- 
developed intellectual  vision  is  just  as  indiscriminating  and 
erroneous  in  its  classings  as  undeveloped  physical  vision. 
Instance  the  early  arrangement  of  plants  into  the  groups, 
trees,  shrubs,  and  herbs :  size,  the  most  conspicuous  trait, 
being  the  ground  of  distinction  ;  and  the  assemblages  formed 
being  such  as  united  many  plants  extremely  unlike  in  their 
natures,  and  separated  others  that  are  near  akin.  Or  still 
better,  take  the  popular  classification  which  puts  together 
under  the  same  general  name,  fish  and  shell-fish,  and  under 


THE  NEW  TORYISM.  287 

the  sub-name,  shell-fish,  puts  together  crustaceans  and  mol- 
luscs ;  nay,  which  goes  further,  and  regards  as  fish  the  ceta- 
cean mammals.  Partly  because  of  the  likeness  in  their 
modes  of  life  as  inhabiting  the  water,  and  partly  because  of 
some  general  resemblance  in  their  flavours,  creatures  that 
are  in  their  essential  natures  far  more  widely  separated  than 
a  fish  is  from  a  bird,  are  associated  in  the  same  class  and  in 
the  same  sub-class. 

Now  the  general  truth  thus  exemplified,  holds  through- 
out those  higher  ranges  of  intellectual  vision  concerned  with 
things  not  presentable  to  tfte  senses,  and,  among  others,  such 
things  as  political  institutions  and  political  measures.  For 
when  thinking  of  these,  too,  the  results  of  inadequate  in- 
tellectual faculty,  or  inadequate  culture  of  it,  or  both,  are 
erroneous  classings  and  consequent  erroneous  conclusions. 
Indeed,  the  liability  to  error  is  here  much  greater ;  since  the 
things  with  which  the  intellect  is  concerned  do  not  admit  of 
examination  in  the  same  easy  way.  You  cannot  touch  or 
see  a  political  institution :  it  can  be  known  only  by  an  effort 
of  constructive  imagination.  Neither  can  you  apprehend  by 
physical  perception  a  political  measure :  this  no  less  requires 
a  process  of  mental  representation  by  which  its  elements  are 
put  together  in  thought,  and  the  essential  nature  of  the  com- 
bination conceived.  Here,  therefore,  still  more  than  in  the 
cases  above  named,  defective  intellectual  vision  is  shown  in 
grouping  by  external  characters,  or  extrinsic  circumstances. 
How  institutions  are  wrongly  classed  from  this  cause,  we  see 
in  the  common  notion  that  the  Roman  Republic  was  a  popu- 
lar form  of  government.  Look  into  the  early  ideas  of  the 
French  revolutionists  who  aimed  at  an  ideal  state  of  freedom, 
and  you  find  that  the  political  forms  and  deeds  of  the  Ro- 
mans were  their  models ;  and  even  now  a  historian  might  be 
named  who  instances  the  corruptions  of  the  Roman  Republic 
as  showing  us  what  popular  government  leads  to.  Yet  the 
resemblance  between  the  institutions  of  the  Romans  and  free 
institutions  properly  so-called,  was  less  than  that  between  a 


288         THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

shark  and  a  porpoise — a  resemblance  of  general  external  form 
accompanying  widely  different  internal  structures.  For  the 
Roman  Government  was  that  of  a  small  oligarchy  within  a 
larger  oligarchy  :  the  members  of  each  being  unchecked  auto- 
crats. A  society  in  which  the  relatively  few  men  who  had 
political  power,  and  were  in  a  qualified  sense  free,  were  so 
many  petty  despots,  holding  not  only  slaves  and  dependents 
but  even  children  in  a  bondage  Nno  less  absolute  than  that  in 
which  they  held  their  cattle,  was,  by  its  intrinsic  nature, 
more  nearly  allied  to  an  ordinary  despotism  than  to  a  society 
of  citizens  politically  equal. 

Passing  now  to  our  special  question,  we  may  understand 
the  kind  of  confusion  in  which  Liberalism  has  lost  itself: 
and  the  origin  of  those  mistaken  classings  of  political  meas- 
ures which  have  misled  it — classings,  as  we  shall  see,  by  con- 
spicuous external  traits  instead  of  by  internal  natures.  For 
what,  in  the  popular  apprehension  and  in  the  apprehension 
of  those  who  effected  them,  were  the  changes  made  by  Lib- 
erals in  the  past  ?  They  were  abolitions  of  grievances  suf- 
fered by  the  people,  or  by  portions  of  them :  this  was  the 
common  trait  they  had  which  most  impressed  itself  on  men's 
minds.  They  were  mitigations  of  evils  which  had  directly 
or  indirectly  been  felt  by  large  classes  of  citizens,  as  causes 
to  misery  or  as  hindrances  to  happiness.  And  since,  in  the 
minds  of  most,  a  rectified  evil  is  equivalent  to  an  achieved 
good,  these  measures  came  to  be  thought  of  as  so  many  posi- 
tive benefits ;  and  the  welfare  of  the  many  came  to  be  con- 
ceived alike  by  Liberal  statesmen  and  Liberal  voters  as  the 
aim  of  Liberalism.  Hence  the  confusion.  The  gaining  of 
a  popular  good,  being  the  external  conspicuous  trait  common 
to  Liberal  measures  in  earlier  days  (then  in  each  case  gained 
by  a  relaxation  of  restraints),  it  has  happened  that  popular 
good  has  come  to  be  sought  by  Liberals,  not  as  an  end  to  be 
indirectly  gained  by  relaxations  of  restraints,  but  as  the  end  to 
be  directly  gained.  And  seeking  to  gain  it  directly,  they  have 
used  methods  intrinsically  opposed  to  those  originally  used. 


THE  NEW  TORYISM.  289 

And  now,  having  seen  how  this  reversal  of  policy  has 
arisen  (or  partial  reversal,  I  should  say,  for  the  recent  Burials 
Act  and  the  efforts  to  remove  all  remaining  religious  inequali- 
ties, show  continuance  of  the  original  policy  in  certain  direc- 
tions), let  us  proceed  to  contemplate  the  extent  to  which  it 
has  been  carried  during  recent  times,  and  the  still  greater 
extent  to  which  the  future  will  see  it  carried  if  current  ideas 
and  feelings  continue  to  predominate. 

Before  proceeding,  it  may  be  well  to  say  that  no  reflec- 
tions are  intended  on  the  motives  which  prompted  one  after 
another  of  these  various  restraints  and  dictations.  These 
motives  were  doubtless  in  nearly  all  cases  good.  It  must  be 
admitted  that  the  restrictions  placed  by  an  Act  of  1870,  on 
the  employment  of  women  and  children  in  Turkey-red  dyeing 
works,  were,  in  intention,  no  less  philanthropic  than  those  of 
Edward  VI.,  which  prescribed  the  minimum  time  for  which 
a  journeymen  should  be  retained.  Without  question,  the 
Seed  Supply  (Ireland)  Act  of  1880,  which  empowered  guard- 
ians to  buy  seed  for  poor  tenants,  and  then  to  see  it  properly 
planted,  was  moved  by  a  desire  for  public  welfare  no  less 
great  than  that  which  in  1533  prescribed  the  number  of 
sheep  a  tenant  might  keep,  or  that  of  1597,  which  com- 
manded that  decayed  houses  of  husbandry  should  be  rebuilt. 
Nobody  will  dispute  that  the  various  measures  of  late  years 
taken  for  restricting  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  have 
been  taken  as  much  with  a  view  to  public  morals  as  were  the 
measures  taken  of  old  for  checking  the  evils  of  luxury ;  as, 
for  instance,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  when  diet  as  well  as 
dress  was  restricted.  Everyone  must  see  that  the  edicts 
issued  by  Henry  "VIII.  to  prevent  the  lower  classes  from 
playing  dice,  cards,  bowls,  c%c.,  were  not  more  prompted  by 
desire  for  popular  welfare  than  were  the  acts  passed  of  late 
to  check  gambling. 

Further,  I  do  not  intend  here  to  question  the  wisdom  of 
these  modern  interferences,  which  Conservatives  and  Liberals 


290  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

vie  with  one  and  other  in  multiplying,  any  more  than  to  ques- 
tion the  wisdom  of  those  ancient  ones  which  they  in  many 
cases  resemble.  We  will  not  now  consider  whether  the  plans 
of  late  adopted  for  preserving  the  lives  of  sailors,  are  or  are 
not  more  judicious  than  that  sweeping  Scotch  measure 
which,  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  prohibited 
captains  from  leaving  harbor  during  the  winter.  For  the 
present,  it  shall  remain  undebated  whether  there  is  a  better 
warrant  for  giving  sanitary  officers  powers  to  search  certain 
premises  for  unfit  food,  than  there  was  for  the  law  of 
Edward  III.,  under  which  innkeepers  at  seaports  were  sworn 
to  search  their  guests  to  prevent  the  exportation  of  money  or 
plate.  We  will  assume  that  there  is  no  less  sense  in  that 
clause  of  the  Canal-boat  Act,  which  forbids  an  owner  to 
board  gratuitously  the  children  of  the  boatmen,  than  there 
was  in  the  Spitalfields  Acts,  which,  up  to  1824,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  artisans,  forbade  the  manufacturers  to  fix  their  factories 
more  than  ten  miles  from  the  Royal  Exchange. 

We  exclude,  then,  these  questions  of  philanthropic  motive 
and  wise  judgment,  taking  both  of  them  for  granted ;  and 
have  here  to  concern  ourselves  solely  with  the  compulsory 
nature  of  the  measures  which,  for  good  or  evil  as  the  case 
may  be,  have  been  put  in  force  during  periods  of  Liberal 
ascendency. 

To  bring  the  illustrations  within  compass,  let  us  com- 
mence with  1860,  under  the  second  administration  of  Lord 
Palmerston.  In  that  year,  the  restrictions  of  the  Factories 
Act  were  extended  to  bleaching  and  dyeing  works ;  authpr- 
ity  was  given  to  provide  analysts  of  food  and  drink,  to 
be  paid  out  of  local  rates ;  there  was  an  Act  providing  for 
inspection  of  gas-works,  as  well  as  for  fixing  quality  of  gas 
and  limiting  price ;  there  was  the  Act  which,  in  addition  to 
further  mine-inspection,  made  it  penal  to  employ  boys  under 
twelve  not  attending  school  and  unable  to  read  and  write. 
In  1861  occurred  an  extension  of  the  compulsory  provisions 
of  the  Factories  Act  to  lace- works ;  power  was  given  to  poor- 


THE  NEW  TORYISM.  291 

law  guardians,  &c.,  to  enforce  vaccination ;  local  boards  were 
authorized  to  fix  rates  of  hire  for  horses,  ponies,  mules,  asses, 
and  boats ;  and  certain  locally-formed  bodies  had  given  to 
them  powers  of  taxing  the  locality  for  rural  drainage  and 
irrigation  works,  and  for  supplying  water  to  cattle.  In 
1862  an  Act  was  passed  for  restricting  the  employment  of 
women  and  children  in  open-air  bleaching ;  and  an  Act  for 
making  illegal  a  coal-mine  with  a  single  shaft,  or  with  shafts 
separated  by  less  than  a  specified  space ;  as  well  as  an  Act 
giving  the  Council  of  Medical  Education  the  exclusive  right 
to  publish  a  Pharmacopoeia,  the  price  of  which  is  to  be  fixed 
by  the  Treasury.  In  1863  came  the  extension  of  compulsory 
vaccination  to  Scotland,  and  also  to  Ireland ;  there  came  the 
empowering  of  certain  boards  to  borrow  money  repayable 
from  the  local  rates,  to  employ  and  pay  those  out  of  work ; 
there  came  the  authorizing  of  town-authorities  to  take  posses- 
sion of  neglected  ornamental  spaces,  and  rate  the  inhabitants 
for  their  support ;  there  came  the  Bakehouses  Regulation 
Act,  which,  besides  specifying  minimum  age  of  employes 
occupied  between  certain  hours,  prescribed  periodical  lime- 
washing,  three  coats  of  paint  when  painted,  and  cleaning  with 
hot  water  and  soap  at  least  once  in  six  months ;  and  there 
came  also  an  Act  giving  a  magistrate  authority  to  decide  on 
the  wholesomeness  or  unwholesomeness  of  food  brought  be- 
fore him  by  an  inspector.  Of  compulsory  legislation  dating 
from  186-1,  may  be  named  an  extension  of  the  Factories  Act 
to  various  additional  trades,  including  regulations  for  cleans- 
ing and  ventilation,  and  specifying  of  certain  employes  in 
match-works,  that  they  might  not  take  meals  on  the  premises 
except  in  the  wood-cutting  places.  Also  there  were  passed  a 
Chimney-S weepers  Act,  an  Act  for  further  regulating  the 
sale  of  beer  in  Ireland,  an  Act  for  compulsory  testing  of  cables 
and  anchors,  an  Act  extending  the  Public  Works  Act  of  1 863, 
and  the  Contagious  Diseases  Act :  which  last  gave  the  police, 
in  specified  places,  powers  which,  in  respect  of  certain  classes 
of  women,  abolished  sundry  of  those  safeguards  to  individual 


292  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

freedom  established  in  past  times.  The  year  1865  witnessed 
further  provision  for  the  reception  and  temporary  relief  of 
wanderers  at  the  cost  of  ratepayers ;  another  public-house 
closing  Act ;  and  an  Act  making  compulsory  regulations  for 
extinguishing  fires  in  London.  Then,  under  the  Ministry  of 
Lord  John  Russell,  in  1866,  have  to  be  named  an  Act  to 
regulate  cattle-sheds,  &c.,  in  Scotland,  giving  local  authorities 
powers  to  inspect  sanitary  conditions  and  fix  the  numbers  of 
cattle ;  an  Act  forcing  hop-growers  to  label  their  bags  with 
the  year  and  place  of  growth  and  the  true  weight,  and  giving 
police  powers  of  search ;  an  Act  to  facilitate  the  building  of 
lodging-houses  in  Ireland,  and  providing  for  regulation  of  the 
inmates ;  a  Public  Health  Act,  under  which  there  is  registra- 
tion of  lodging-houses  and  limitation  of  occupants,  with 
inspection  and  directions  for  lime-washing,  &c.,  and  a  Public 
Libraries  Act,  giving  local  powers  by  which  a  majority  can 
tax  a  minority  for  their  books. 

Passing  now  to  the  legislation  under  the  first  Ministry  of 
Mr.  Gladstone,  we  have,  in  1869,  the  establishment  of  State- 
telegraphy,  with  the  accompanying  interdict  on  telegraphing 
through  any  other  agency ;  we  have  the  empowering  a  Secre- 
tary of  State  to  regulate  hired  conveyances  in  London ;  we 
have  further  and  more  stringent  regulations  to  prevent  cattle- 
diseases  from  spreading,  another  Beerhouse  Regulation  Act, 
and  a  Sea-birds  Preservation  Act  (ensuring  greater  mortality 
of  fish).  In  1870  we  have  a  law  authorizing  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  to  make  advances  for  landlords'  improvements 
and  for  purchase  by  tenants ;  we  have  the  Act  which  enables 
the  Education  Department  to  form  school-boards  which  shall 
purchase  sites  for  schools,  and  may  provide  free  schools 
supported  by  local  rates,  and  enabling  school-boards  to  pay  a 
child's  fees,  to  compel  parents  to  send  their  children,  &c.,  &c. ; 
we  have  a  further  Factories  and  Workshops  Act,  making, 
among  other  restrictions,  some  on  the  employment  of  women 
and  children  in  fruit-preserving  and  fish-curing  works.  In 
1871  we  met  with  an  amended  Merchant  Shipping  Act, 


THE  NEW  TORYISM.  293 

directing  officers  of  the  Board  of  Trade  to  record  the  draught 
of  sea-going  vessels  leaving  port ;  there  is  another  Factory 
and  Workshops  Act,  making  further  restrictions ;  there  is  a 
Pedlars  Act,  inflicting  penalties  for  hawking  without  a 
certificate,  and  limiting  the  district  within  which  the  certi- 
ficate holds  as  well  as  giving  the  police  power  to  search 
pedlars'  packs ;  and  there  are  further  measures  for  enforcing 
vaccination.  The  year  1872  had,  among  other  Acts,  one 
which  makes  it  illegal  to  take  for  hire  more  than  one  child 
to  nurse,  unless  in  a  house  registered  by  the  authorities,  who 
prescribe  the  number  of  infants  to  be  received ;  it  had  a 
Licensing  Act,  interdicting  sale  of  spirits  to  those  apparently 
under  sixteen ;  and  it  had  another  Merchant  Shipping  Act, 
establishing  an  annual  survey  of  passenger  steamers.  Then 
in  1873  was  passed  the  Agricultural  Children's  Act,  which 
makes  it  penal  for  a  farmer  to  employ  a  child  who  has 
neither  certificate  of  elementary  education  nor  of  certain 
prescribed  school-attendances ;  and  there  was  passed  a 
Merchant  Shipping  Act,  requiring  on  each  vessel  a  scale 
showing  draught  and  giving  the  Board  of  Trade  power- to  fix 
the  numbers  of  boats  and  life-saving  appliances  to  be  carried. 
Turn  now  to  Liberal  law-making  under  the  present  Minis- 
try. We  have,  in  1880,  a  law  which  forbids  conditional  ad- 
vance-notes in  payment  of  sailors'  wages  ;  also  a  law  which 
dictates  certain  arrangements  for  the  safe  carriage  of  grain- 
cargoes  ;  also  a  law  increasing  local  coercion  over  parents  to 
send  their  children  to  school.  In  1881  comes  legislation  to 
prevent  trawling  over  clam-beds  and  bait-beds,  and  an  interdict 
making  it  impossible  to  buy  a  glass  of  beer  on  Sunday  in  Wales. 
In  1882  the  Board  of  Trade  was  authorized  to  grant  licences 
to  generate  and  sell  electricity,  and  municipal  bodies  were  en- 
abled to  levy  rates  for  electric-lighting :  further  exactions 
from  ratepayers  were  authorized  for  facilitating  more  acces- 
sible baths  and  washhouses ;  and  local  authorities  were  em- 
powered to  make  bye-laws  for  securing  the  decent  lodging 
of  persons  engaged  in  picking  fruit  and  vegetables.  Of  such 


294  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

legislation  during  1883  may  be  named  the  Cheap  Trains  Act, 
which,  partly  by  taxing  the  nation  to  the  extent  of  £400,000 
a  year  (in  the  shape  of  relinquished  passenger  duty),  and 
partly  at  the  cost  of  railway-proprietors,  still  further  cheapens 
travelling  for  workmen  :  the  Board  of  Trade,  through  the 
Railway  Commissioners,  being  empowered  to  ensure  suffi- 
ciently good  and  frequent  accommodation.  Again,  there  is 
the  Act  which,  under  penalty  of  v£10  for  disobedience,  forbids 
the  payment  of  wages  to  workmen  at  or  within  public-houses ; 
there  is  another  Factory  and  Workshops  Act,  commanding 
inspection  of  white  lead  works  (to  see  that  there  are  pro- 
vided overalls,  respirators,  baths,  acidulated  drinks,  &c.)  and 
of  bakehouses,  regulating  times  of  employment  in  both,  and 
prescribing  in  detail  some  constructions  for  the  last,  which 
are  to  be  kept  in  a  condition  satisfactory  to  the  inspectors. 

But  we  are  far  from  forming  an  adequate  conception  if  we 
look  only  at  the  compulsory  legislation  which  has  actually 
been  established  of  late  years.  We  must  look  also  at  that 
which  is  advocated,  and  which  threatens  to  be  far  more 
sweeping  in  range  and  stringent  in  character.  We  have 
lately  had  a  Cabinet  Minister,  one  of  the  most  advanced 
Liberals,  so-called,  who  pooh-poohs  the  plans  of  the  late 
Government  for  improving  industrial  dwellings  as  so  much 
"  tinkering ; "  and  contends  for  effectual  coercion  to  be  exer- 
cised over  owners  of  small  houses,  over  land-owners,  and 
over  ratepayers.  Here  is  another  Cabinet  Minister  who, 
addressing  his  constituents,  speaks  slightingly  of  the  doings 
of  philanthropic  societies  and  religious  bodies  to  help  the 
poor,  and  says  that  "  the  whole  of  the  people  of  this  country 
ought  to  look  upon  this  work  as  being  their  own  work  : " 
that  is  to  say,  some  extensive  Government  measure  is  called 
for.  Again,  we  have  a  Radical  member  of  Parliament  who 
leads  a  large  and  powerful  body,  aiming  with  annually-in- 
creasing promise  of  success,  to  enforce  sobriety  by  giving  to 
local  majorities  powers  to  prevent  freedom  of  exchange  in 
respect  of  certain  commodities.  Regulation  of  the  hours  of 


THE  NEW  TORYISM.  295 

labour  for  certain  classes,  which  has  been  made  more  and 
more  general  by  successive  extensions  of  the  Factories  Acts, 
is  likely  now  to  be  made  still  more  general :  a  measure  is  to 
be  proposed  bringing  the  employes  in  all  shops  under  such 
regulation.  There  is  a  rising  demand,  too,  that  education 
shall  be  made  gratis  (i.  e.,  tax-supported),  for  all.  The  pay- 
ment of  school-fees  is  beginning  to  be  denounced  as  a  wrong : 
the  State  must  take  the  whole  burden.  Moreover,  it  is  pro- 
posed by  many  that  the  State,  regarded  as  an  undoubtedly 
competent  judge  of  what  constitutes  good  education  for  the 
poor,  shall  undertake  also  to  prescribe  good  education  for  the 
middle  classes — shall  stamp  the  children  of  these,  too,  after 
a  State  pattern,  concerning  the  goodness  of  which  they  have 
no  more  doubt  than  the  Chinese  had  when  they  fixed  theirs. 
Then  there  is  the  "  endowment  of  research,"  of  late  energeti- 
cally urged.  Already  the  Government  gives  every  year  the 
sum  of  £4,000  for  this  purpose,  to  be  distributed  through  the 
Royal  Society  ;  and,  in  the  absence  of  those  who  have  strong 
motives  for  resisting  the  pressure  of  the  interested,  backed  by 
those  they  easily  persuade,  it  may  by-and-by  establish  that 
paid  "  priesthood  of  science "  long  ago  advocated  by  Sir 
David  Brewster.  Once  more,  plausible  proposals  are  made 
that  there  should  be  organized  a  system  of  compulsory  in- 
surance, by  which  men  during  their  early  lives  shall  be 
forced  to  provide  for  the  time  when  they  will  be  incapaci- 
tated. 

Nor  does  enumeration  of  these  further  measures  of  coercive 
rule,  looming  on  us  near  at  hand  or  in  the  distance,  complete 
the  account.  Nothing  more  than  cursory  allusion  has  yet 
been  made  to  that  accompanying  compulsion  which  takes  the 
form  of  increased  taxation,  general  and  local.  Partly  for 
defraying  the  costs  of  carrying  out  these  ever-multiplying 
sets  of  regulations,  each  of  which  requires  an  additional  staff 
of  officers,  and  partly  to  meet  the  outlay  for  new  public  insti- 
tutions, such  as  board -schools,  free  libraries,  public  museums, 
baths  and  washhouses,  recreation  grounds,  &c.,  &c.,  local  rates 


296        THE  MAN  VEXSUS  THE  STATE. 

are  year  after  year  increased  ;  as  the  general  taxation  is 
increased  by  grants  for  education  and  to  the  departments  of 
science  and  art,  &c.  Every  one  of  these  involves  further 
coercion — restricts  still  more  the  freedom  of  the  citizen.  For 
the  implied  address  accompanying  every  additional  exaction 
is — "  Hitherto  you  have  been  free  to  spend  this  portion  of 
your  earnings  in  any  way  which  pleased  you ;  hereafter  you 
shall  not  be  free  so  to  spend  it,  but  we  will  spend  it  for  the 
general  benefit."  Thus,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  and  in 
most  cases  both  at  once,  the  citizen  is  at  each  further  stage 
in  the  growth  of  this  compulsory  legislation,  deprived  of 
some  liberty  which  he  previously  had. 

Such,  then,  are  the  doings  of  the  party  which  claims  the 
name  of  Liberal ;  and  which  calls  itself  Liberal  as  being  the 
advocate  of  extended  freedom  ! 

I  doubt  not  that  many  a  member  of  the  party  has  read  the 
preceding  section  with  impatience :  wanting,  as  he  does,  to 
point  out  an  immense  oversight  which  he  thinks  destroys  the 
validity  of  the  argument.  "  You  forget,"  he  wishes  to  say, 
"  the  fundamental  difference  between  the  power  which,  in  the 
past,  established  those  restraints  that  Liberalism  abolished, 
and  the  power  which,  in  the  present,  establishes  the  restraints 
you  call  anti-Liberal.  You  forget  that  the  one  was  an  irre- 
sponsible power,  while  the  other  is  a  responsible  power.  You 
forget  that  if  by  the  recent  legislation  of  Liberals,  people  are 
variously  regulated,  the  body  which  regulates  them  is  of  their 
own  creating,  and  has  their  warrant  for  its  acts." 

My  answer  is,  that  I  have  not  forgotten  this  difference, 
but  am  prepared  to  contend  that  the  difference  is  in  large 
measure  irrelevant  to  the  issue. 

In  the  first  place,  the  real  issue  is  whether  the  lives  of 
citizens  are  more  interfered  with  than  they  were ;  not  the 
nature  of  the  agency  which  interferes  with  them.  Take  a 
simpler  case.  A  member  of  a  trades'  union  has  joined  others 
in  establishing  an  organization  of  a  purely  representative 


THE  NEW  TORYISM.  297 

character.  By  it  he  is  compelled  to  strike  if  a  majority  so 
decide  ;  he  is  forbidden  to  accept  work  save  under  the  con- 
ditions they  dictate ;  he  is  prevented  from  profiting  by  his 
superior  ability  or  energy  to  the  extent  he  might  do  were  it 
not  for  their  interdict.  He  cannot  disobey  without  abandon- 
ing those  pecuniary  benefits  of  the  organization  for  which  he 
has  subscribed,  and  bringing  on  himself  the  persecution,  and 
perhaps  violence,  of  his  fellows.  Is  he  any  the  less  coerced 
because  the  body  coercing  him  is  one  which  he  had  an  equal 
voice  with  the  rest  in  forming  ? 

In  the  second  place,  if  it  be  objected  that  the  analogy  is 
faulty,  since  the  governing  body  of  a  nation,  to  which,  as 
protector  of  the  national  life  and  interests,  all  must  submit 
under  penalty  of  social  disorganization,  has  a  far  higher  au- 
thority over  citizens  than  the  government  of  any  private 
organization  can  have  over  its  members ;  then  the  reply  is 
that,  granting  the  difference,  the  answer  made  continues 
valid.  If  men  use  their  liberty  in  such  a  way  as  to  surrender 
their  liberty,  are  they  thereafter  any  the  less  slaves  ?  If 
people  by  a  plebiscite  elect  a  man  despot  over  them,  do  they 
remain  free  because  the  despotism  was  of  their  own  making  ? 
Are  the  coercive  edicts  issued  by  him  to  be  regarded  as 
legitimate  because  they  are  the  ultimate  outcome  of  their 
own  votes?  As  well  might  it  be  argued  that  the  East 
African,  who  breaks  a  spear  in  another's  presence  that  he 
may  so  become  bondsman  to  him,  still  retains  his  liberty 
because  he  freely  chose  his  master. 

Finally  if  any,  not  without  marks  of  irritation  as  I  can 
imagine,  repudiate  this  reasoning,  and  say  that  there  is  no 
true  parallelism  between  the  relation  of  people  to  govern- 
ment where  an  irresponsible  single  ruler  has  been  perma- 
nently elected,  and  the  relation  where  a  responsible  repre- 
sentative body  is  maintained,  and  from  time  to  time  re- 
elected  ;  then  there  comes  the  ultimate  reply — an  altogether 
heterodox  reply — by  which  most  will  be  greatly  astonished. 
This  reply  is,  that  these  multitudinous  restraining  acts  are 


298  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

not  defensible  on  the  ground  that  they  proceed  from  a  popu- 
larly-chosen body ;  for  that  the  authority  of  a  popularly- 
chosen  body  is  no  more  to  be  regarded  as  an  unlimited  au- 
thority than  the  authority  of  a  monarch ;  and  that  as  true 
Liberalism  in  the  past  disputed  the  assumption  of  a  mon- 
arch's unlimited  authority,  so  true  Liberalism  in  the  present 
will  dispute  the  assumption  of  unlimited  parliamentary  au- 
thority. Of  this,  however,  more  anon.  Here  I  merely  in- 
dicate it  as  an  ultimate  answer. 

Meanwhile  it  suffices  to  point  out  that  until  recently,  just 
as  of  old,  true  Liberalism  was  shown  by  its  acts  to  be  moving 
ing  towards  the  theory  of  a  limited  parliamentary  authority. 
All  these  abolitions  of  restraints  over  religious  beliefs  and 
observances,  over  exchange  and  transit,  over  trade-combina- 
tions and  the  travelling  of  artisans,  over  the  publication  of 
opinions,  theological  or  political,  &c.,  &c.,  were  tacit  asser- 
tions of  the  desirableness  of  limitation.  In  the  same  way 
that  the  abandonment  of  sumptuary  laws,  of  laws  forbidding 
this  or  that  kind  of  amusement,  of  laws  dictating  modes  of 
farming,  and  many  others  of  like  meddling  nature,  which 
took  place  in  early  days,  was  an  implied  admission  that  the 
State  ought  not  to  interfere  in  such  matters ;  so  those  re- 
movals of  hindrances  to  individual  activities  of  one  or  other 
kind,  which  the  Liberalism  of  the  last  generation  effected, 
were  practical  confessions  that  in  these  directions,  too,  the 
sphere  of  governmental  action  should  be  narrowed.  And 
this  recognition  of  the  propriety  of  restricting  governmental 
action  was  a  preparation  for  restricting  it  in  theory.  One  of 
the  most  familiar  political  truths  is  that,  in  the  course  of 
social  evolution,  usage  precedes  law ;  and  that  when  usage 
has  been  well  established  it  becomes  law  by  receiving  authori- 
tative endorsement  and  defined  form.  Manifestly  then, 
Liberalism  in  the  past,  by  its  practice  of  limitation,  was  pre- 
paring the  way  for  the  principle  of  limitation. 

But  returning  from  these  more  general  considerations  to 
the  special  question,  I  emphasize  the  reply  that  the  liberty 


THE  NEW  TORYISM.  299 

which  a  citizen  enjoys  is  to  be  measured,  not  by  the  nature  of 
the  governmental  machinery  he  lives  under,  whether  repre- 
sentative or  other,  but  by  the  relative  paucity  of  the  restraints 
it  imposes  on  him  ;  and  that,  whether  this  machinery  is  or  is 
not  one  he  shared  in  making,  its  actions  are  not  of  the  kind 
proper  to  Liberalism  if  they  increase  such  restraints  beyond 
those  which  are  needful  for  preventing  him  from  directly  or 
indirectly  aggressing  on  his  fellows — needful,  that  is,  for 
maintaining  the  liberties  of  his  fellows  against  his  invasions 
of  them :  restraints  which  are,  therefore,  to  be  distinguished 
as  negatively  coercive,  not  positively  coercive. 

Probably,  however,  the  Liberal,  and  still  more  the  sub- 
species Radical,  who  more  than  any  other  in  these  latter 
days  seems  under  the  impression  that  so  long  as  he  has  a 
good  end  in  view  he  is  warranted  in  exercising  over  men  all 
the  coercion  he  is  able,  will  continue  to  protest.  Knowing 
that  his  aim  is  popular  benefit  of  some  kind,  to  be  achieved 
in  some  way,  and  believing  that  the  Tory  is,  contrariwise, 
prompted  by  class-interest  and  the  desire  to  maintain  class- 
power,  he  will  regard  it  as  palpably  absurd  to  group  him  as 
one  of  the  same  genus,  and  will  scorn  the  reasoning  used  to 
prove  that  he  belongs  to  it. 

Perhaps  an  analogy  will  help  him  to  see  its  validity.  If, 
away  in  the  far  East,  where  personal  government  is  the  only 
form  of  government  known,  he  heard  from  the  inhabitants 
an  account  of  a  struggle  by  which  they  had  deposed  a  cruel 
and  vicious  despot,  and  put  in  his  place  one  whose  acts  proved 
his  desire  for  their  welfare — if,  after  listening  to  their  self- 
gratulations,  he  told  them  that  they  had  not  essentially 
changed  the  nature  of  their  government,  he  would  greatly 
astonish  them;  and  probably  he  would  have  difficulty  in 
making  them  understand  that  the  substitution  of  a  benevo- 
lent despot  for  a  malevolent  despot,  still  left  the  government 
a  despotism.  Similarly  with  Toryism  as  rightly  conceived. 
Standing  as  it  does  for  coercion  by  the  State  versus  the 


300  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

freedom  of  the  individual,  Toryism  remains  Toryism,  whether 
it  extends  this  coercion  for  selfish  or  unselfish  reasons.  As 
certainly  as  the  despot  is  still  a  despot,  whether  his  motives 
for  arbitrary  rule  are  good  or  bad  ;  so  certainly  is  the  Tory 
still  a  Tory,  whether  he  has  egoistic  or  altruistic  motives  for 
using  State-power  to  restrict  the  liberty  of  the  citizen,  beyond 
the  degree  required  for  maintaining  the  liberties  of  other 
citizens.  The  altruistic  Tory  as  well  as  the  egoistic  Tory 
belongs  to  the  genus  Tory ;  though  he  forms  a  new  species 
of  the  genus.  And  both  stand  in  distinct  contrast  with  the 
Liberal  as  defined  in  the  days  when  Liberals  were  rightly  so 
called,  and  when  the  definition  was — "one  who  advocates 
greater  freedom  from  restraint,  especially  in  political  institu- 
tions." 

Thus,  then,  is  justified  the  paradox  I  set  out  with.  As  we 
have  seen,  Toryism  and  Liberalism  originally  emerged,  the 
one  from  militancy  and  the  other  from  industrialism.  The 
one  stood  for  the  regime  of  status  and  the  other  for  the 
regime  of  contract — the  one  for  that  system  of  compulsory 
co-operation  which  accompanies  the  legal  inequality  of  classes, 
and  the  other  for  that  voluntary  co-operation  which  accom- 
panies their  legal  equality ;  and  beyond  all  question  the  early 
acts  of  the  two  parties  were  respectively  for  the  maintenance 
of  agencies  which  effect  this  compulsory  co-operation,  and 
for  the  weakening  or  curbing  of  them.  Manifestly  the  im- 
plication is  that,  in  so  far  as  it  has  been  extending  the  system 
of  compulsion,  what  is  now  called  Liberalism  is  a  new  form 
of  Toryism. 

How  truly  this  is  so,  we  shall  see  still  more  clearly  on 
looking  at  the  facts  the  other  side  upwards,  which  we  will 
presently  do. 


NOTE. — By  sundry  newspapers  which  noticed  this  article 
when  it  was  originally  published,  the  meaning  of  the  above 
paragraphs  was  supposed  to  be  that  Liberals  and  Tories  have 


THE  NEW  TORYISM.  301 

changed  places.  This,  however,  is  by  no  means  the  implica- 
tion. A  new  species  of  Tory  may  arise  without  disappear- 
ance of  the  original  species.  When  saying,  as  on  page  16, 
that  in  our  days  "  Conservatives  and  Liberals  vie  with  one 
another  in  multiplying  "  interferences,  I  clearly  implied  the 
belief  that  while  Liberals  have  taken  to  coercive  legislation, 
Conservatives  have  not  abandoned  it.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
true  that  the  laws  made  by  Liberals  are  so  greatly  increasing 
the  compulsions  and  restraints  exercised  over  citizens,  that 
among  Conservatives  who  suffer  from  this  aggressiveness 
there  is  growing  up  a  tendency  to  resist  it.  Proof  is  fur- 
nished by  the  fact  that  the  "  Liberty  and  Property  Defense 
League,"  largely  consisting  of  Conservatives,  has  taken  for 
its  motto  "  Individualism  versus  Socialism."  So  that  if  the 
present  drift  of  things  continues,  it  may  by  and  by  really 
happen  that  the  Tories  will  be  defenders  of  liberties  which 
the  Liberals,  in  pursuit  of  what  they  think  popular  welfare, 
trample  under  foot. 


20 


THE   COMING  SLAVERY. 

THE  kinship  of  pity  to  love  is  shown  among  other  ways 
in  this,  that  it  idealizes  its  object.  Sympathy  with  one  in 
suffering  suppresses,  for  the  time  being,  remembrance  of 
his  transgressions.  The  feeling  which  vents  itself  in  "  poor 
fellow ! "  on  seeing  one  in  agony,  excludes  the  thought  of 
"  bad  fellow,"  which  might  at  another  time  arise.  Naturally, 
then,  if  the  wretched  are  unknown  or  but  vaguely  known, 
all  the  demerits  they  may  have  are  ignored  ;  and  thus  it  hap- 
pens that  when  the  miseries  of  the  poor  are  dilated  upon, 
they  are  thought  of  as  the  miseries  of  the  deserving  poor, 
instead  of  being  thought  of  as  the  miseries  of  the  undeserv- 
ing poor,  which  in  large  measure  they  should  be.  Those 
whose  hardships  are  set  forth  in  pamphlets  and  proclaimed 
in  sermons  and  speeches  which  echo  throughout  society,  are 
assumed  to  be  all  worthy  souls,  grievously  wronged  ;  and 
none  of  them  are  thought  of  as  bearing  the  penalties  of  their 
misdeeds. 

On  hailing  a  cab  in  a  London  street,  it  is  surprising  how 
frequently  the  door  is  officiously  opened  by  one  who  expects 
to  get  something  for  his  trouble.  The  surprise  lessens  after 
counting  the  many  loungers  about  tavern-doors,  or  after  ob- 
serving the  quickness  with  which  a  street-performance,  or 
procession,  draws  from  neighbouring  slums  and  stable-yards 
a  group  of  idlers.  Seeing  how  numerous  they  are  in  every 
small  area,  it  becomes  manifest  that  tens  of  thousands  of 
such  swarm  through  London.  "  They  have  no  work,"  you 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  303 

say.  Say  rather  that  they  either  refuse  work  or  quickly  turn 
themselves  out  of  it.  They  are  simply  good-for-nothings, 
who  in  one  way  or  other  live  on  the  good-for-somethings — 
vagrants  and  sots,  criminals  and  those  on  the  way  to  crime, 
youths  who  are  burdens  on  hard-worked  parents,  men  who 
appropriate  the  wages  of  their  wives,  fellows  who  share  the 
gains  of  prostitutes  ;  and  then,  less  visible  and  less  numerous, 
there  is  a  corresponding  class  of  women. 

Is  it  natural  that  happiness  should  be  the  lot  of  such  ?  or 
is  it  natural  that  they  should  bring  unhappiness  on  them- 
selves and  those  connected  with  them  ?  Is  it  not  manifest 
that  there  must  exist  in  our  midst  an  immense  amount  of 
misery  which  is  a  normal  result  of  misconduct,  and  ought  not 
to  be  dissociated  from  it  ?  There  is  a  notion,  always  more 
or  less  prevalent  and  just  now  vociferously  expressed,  that 
all  social  suffering  is  removable,  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
somebody  or  other  to  remove  it.  Both  these  beliefs  are  false. 
To  separate  pain  from  ill-doing  is  to  fight  against  the  consti- 
tution of  things,  and  will  be  followed  by  far  more  pain. 
Saving  men  from  the  natural  penalties  of  dissolute  living, 
eventually  necessitates  the  infliction  of  artificial  penalties  in 
solitary  cells,  on  tread-wheels,  and  by  the  lash.  I  suppose  a 
dictum  on  which  the  current  creed  and  the  creed  of  science 
are  at  one,  may  be  considered  to  have  as  high  an  authority 
as  can  be  found.  Well,  the  command  "if  any  would  not 
work  neither  should  he  eat,"  is  simply  a  Christian  enuncia- 
tion of  that  universal  law  of  Nature  under  which  life  has 
reached  its  present  height — the  law  that  a  creature  not  ener- 
getic enough  to  maintain  itself  must  die :  the  sole  difference 
being  that  the  law  which  in  the  one  case  is  to  be  artificially 
enforced,  is,  in  the  other  case,  a  natural  necessity.  And  yet 
this  particular  tenet  of  their  religion  which  science  so  mani- 
festly justifies,  is  the  one  which  Christians  seem  least  in- 
clined to  accept.  The  current  assumption  is  that  there  should 
be  no  suffering,  and  that  society  is  to  blame  for  that  which 
exists. 


304:  THE  MAN   VEfiSUS  THE  STATE. 

"But  surely  we  are  not  without  responsibilities,  even 
when  the  suffering  is  that  of  the  unworthy  ? " 

If  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  we  "  be  so  expanded  as  to 
include  with  ourselves  our  ancestors,  and  especially  our  an- 
cestral legislators,  I  agree.  I  admit  that  those  who  made, 
and  modified,  and  administered,  the  old  Poor  Law,  were  re- 
sponsible for  producing  an  appalling  amount  of  demoraliza- 
tion, which  it  will  take  more  than  one  generation  to  remove. 
I  admit,  too,  the  partial  responsibility  of  recent  and  present 
law-makers  for  regulations  which  have  brought  into  being  a 
permanent  body  of  tramps,  who  ramble  from  union  to  union ; 
and  also  their  responsibility  for  maintaining  a  constant  sup- 
ply of  felons  by  sending  back  convicts  into  society  under 
such  conditions  that  they  are  almost  compelled  again  to  com- 
mit crimes.  Moreover,  I  admit  that  the  philanthropic  are 
not  without  their  share  of  responsibility;  since,  that  they 
may  aid  the  offspring  of  the  unworthy,  they  disadvantage  the 
offspring  of  the  worthy  through  burdening  their  parents  by 
increased  local  rates.  Nay,  I  even  admit  that  these  swarms 
of  good-for-nothings,  fostered  and  multiplied  by  public  and 
private  agencies,  have,  by  sundry  mischievous  meddlings,  been 
made  to  suffer  more  than  they  would  otherwise  have  suffered. 
Are  these  the  responsibilities  meant  ?  I  suspect  not. 

But  now,  leaving  the  question  of  responsibilities,  however 
conceived,  and  considering  only  the  evil  itself,  what  shall  we 
say  of  its  treatment  ?  Let  me  begin  with  a  fact. 

A  late  uncle  of  mine,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Spencer,  for  some 
twenty  years  incumbent  of  Hinton  Charterhouse,  near  Bath, 
no  sooner  entered  on  his  parish  duties  than  he  proved  him- 
self anxious  for  the  welfare  of  the  poor,  by  establishing  a 
school,  a  library,  a  clothing  club,  and  land-allotments,  besides 
building  some  model  cottages.  Moreover,  up  to  1833  he 
was  a  pauper's  friend — always  for  the  pauper  against  the 
overseer. 

There  presently  came,  however,  the  debates  on  the  Poor 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  305 

Law,  which  impressed  him  with  the  evils  of  the  system  then 
in  force.  Though  an  ardent  philanthropist  he  was  not  a 
timid  sentimentalist.  The  result  was  that,  immediately  the 
New  Poor  Law  was  passed,  he  proceeded  to  carry  out  its 
provisions  in  his  parish.  Almost  universal  opposition  was 
encountered  by  him  :  not  the  poor  only  being  his  opponents, 
but  even  the  farmers  on  whom  came  the  burden  of  heavy 
poor-rates.  For,  strange  to  say,  their  interests  had  become 
apparently  identified  with  the  maintenance  of  this  system 
which  taxed  them  so  largely.  The  explanation  is  that  there 
had  grown  up  the  practice  of  paying  out  of  the  rates  a  part 
of  the  wages  of  each  farm-servant — "  make-wages,"  as  the 
sum  was  called.  And  though  the  farmers  contributed  most 
of  the  fund  from  which  "  make- wages  "  were  paid,  yet,  since 
all  other  ratepayers  contributed,  the  farmers  seemed  to  gain 
by  the  arrangement.  My  uncle,  however,  not  easily  deterred, 
faced  all  this  opposition  and  enforced  the  law.  The  result 
was  that  in  two  years  the  rates  were  reduced  from  £700  a 
year  to  £200  a  year ;  while  the  condition  of  the  parish  was 
greatly  improved.  "  Those  who  had  hitherto  loitered  at  the 
corners  of  the  streets,  or  at  the  doors  of  the  beer-shops,  had 
something  else  to  do,  and  one  after  another  they  obtained 
employment;"  so  that  out  of  a  population  of  800,  only  15 
had  to  be  sent  as  incapable  paupers  to  the  Bath  Union  (when 
that  was  formed),  in  place  of  the  100  who  received  out-door 
relief  a  short  time  before.  If  it  be  said  that  the  £25  tele- 
scope which,  a  few  years  after,  his  parishioners  presented  to 
my  uncle,  marked  the  gratitude  of  the  ratepayers  only ;  then 
my  reply  is  the  fact  that  when,  some  years  later  still,  having 
killed  himself  by  overwork  in  pursuit  of  popular  welfare,  he 
was  taken  to  Hinton  to  be  buried,  the  procession  which  fol- 
lowed him  to  the  grave  included  not  the  well-to-do  only  but 
the  poor. 

Several  motives  have  prompted  this  brief  narrative.  One 
is  the  wish  to  prove  that  sympathy  with  the  people  and  self- 
sacrificing  efforts  on  their  behalf,  do  not  necessarily  imply 


306         THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

approval  of  gratuitous  aids.  Another  is  the  desire  to  show 
that  benefit  may  result,  not  from  multiplication  of  artificial 
appliances  to  mitigate  distress,  but,  contrariwise,  from  dimi- 
nution of  them.  And  a  further  purpose  I  have  in  view  is 
that  of  preparing  the  way  for  an  analogy. 

Under  another  form  and  in  a  different  sphere,  we  are  now 
yearly  extending  a  system  which  is  identical  in  nature  with 
the  system  of  "  make- wages  "  tinder  the  old  Poor  Law.  Lit- 
tle as  politicians  recognize  the  fact,  it  is  nevertheless  demon- 
strable that  these  various  public  appliances  for  working-class 
comfort,  which  they  are  supplying  at  the  cost  of  ratepayers, 
are  intrinsically  of  the  same  nature  as  those  which,  in  past 
times,  treated  the  farmer's  man  as  half-labourer  and  half- 
pauper.  In  either  case  the  worker  receives  in  return  for 
what  he  does,  money  wherewith  to  buy  certain  of  the  things 
he  wants ;  while,  to  procure  the  rest  of  them  for  him,  money 
is  furnished  out  of  a  common  fund  raised  by  taxes.  What 
matters  it  whether  the  things  supplied  by  ratepayers  for 
nothing,  instead  of  by  the  employer  in  payment,  are  of  this 
kind  or  that  kind?  the  principle  is  the  same.  For  sums 
received  let  us  substitute  the  commodities  and  benefits  pur- 
chased ;  and  then  see  how  the  matter  stands.  In  old  Poor- 
Law  times,  the  farmer  gave  for  work  done  the  equivalent, 
say  of  house-rent,  bread,  clothes,  and  fire ;  while  the  rate- 
payers practically  supplied  the  man  and  his  family  with  their 
shoes,  tea,  sugar,  candles,  a  little  bacon,  &c.  The  division  is, 
of  course,  arbitrary ;  but  unquestionably  the  farmer  and  the 
ratepayers  furnished  these  things  between  them.  At  the 
present  time  the  artisan  receives  from  his  employer  in  wages, 
the  equivalent  of  the  consumable  commodities  he  wants; 
while  from  the  public  comes  satisfaction  for  others  of  his 
needs  and  desires.  At  the  cost  of  ratepayers  he  has  in  some 
cases,  and  will  presently  have  in  more,  a  house  at  less  than 
its  commercial  value ;  for  of  course  when,  as  in  Liverpool,  a 
municipality  spends  nearly  £200,000  in  pulling  down  and 
reconstructing  low-class  dwellings,  and  is  about  to  spend  as 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  307 

much  again,  the  implication  is  that  in  some  way  the  rate- 
payers supply  the  poor  with  more  accommodation  than  the 
rents  they  pay  would  otherwise  have  brought.  The  artisan 
further  receives  from  them,  in  schooling  for  his  children, 
much  more  than  he  pays  for ;  and  there  is  every  probability 
that  he  will  presently  receive  it  from  them  gratis.  The 
ratepayers  also  satisfy  what  desire  he  may  have  for  books 
and  newspapers,  and  comfortable  places  to  read  them  in.  In 
some  cases  too,  as  in  Manchester,  gymnasia  for  his  children 
of  both  sexes,  as  well  as  recreation  grounds,  are  provided. 
That  is  to  say,  he  obtains  from  a  fund  raised  by  local  taxes, 
certain  benefits  beyond  those  which  the  sum  received  for  his 
labour  enables  him  to  purchase.  The  sole  difference,  then, 
between  this  system  and  the  old  system  of  "  make-wages,"  is 
between  the  kinds  of  satisfactions  obtained ;  and  this  differ- 
ence does  not  in  the  least  affect  the  nature  of  the  arrange- 
ment. 

Moreover,  the  two  are  pervaded  by  substantially  the  same 
illusion.  In  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  "what  looks  like  a 
gratis  benefit  is  not  a  gratis  benefit.  The  amount  which, 
under  the  old  Poor  Law,  the  half -pauperized  labourer  re- 
ceived from  the  parish  to  eke  out  his  weekly  income,  was  not 
really,  as  it  appeared,  a  bonus ;  for  it  was  accompanied  by  a 
substantially-equivalent  decrease  of  his  wages,  as  was  quickly 
proved  when  the  system  was  abolished  and  the  wages  rose. 
Just  so  is  it  with  these  seeming  boons  received  by  working 
people  in  towns.  I  do  not  refer  only  to  the  fact  that  they 
unawares  pay  in  part  through  the  raised  rents  of  their  dwell- 
ings (when  they  are  not  actual  ratepayers) ;  but  I  refer  to 
the  fact  that  the  wages  received  by  them  are,  like  the  wages 
of  the  farm -labourer,  diminished  by  these  public  burdens 
falling  on  employers.  Read  the  accounts  coming  of  late  from 
Lancashire  concerning  the  cotton-strike,  containing  proofs, 
given  by  artisans  themselves,  that  the  margin  of  profit  is  so 
narrow  that  the  less  skilful  manufacturers,  as  well  as  those 
with  deficient  capital,  fail,  and  that  the  companies  of  co- 


308  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

operators  who  compete  with  them  can  rarely  hold  their  own ; 
and  then  consider  what  is  the  implication  respecting  wages. 
Among  the  costs  of  production  have  to  be  reckoned  taxes, 
general  and  local.  If,  as  in  our  large  towns,  the  local  rates 
now  amount  to  one-third  of  the  rental  or  more — if  the 
employer  has  to  pay  this,  not  on  his  private  dwelling  only, 
but  on  his  business-premises,  factories,  warehouses,  or  the 
like ;  it  results  that  the  interest  on  his  capital  must  be  dimin- 
ished by  that  amount,  or  the  amount  must  be  taken  from 
the  wages-fund,  or  partly  one  and  partly  the  other.  And  if 
competition  among  capitalists  in  the  same  business,  and  in 
other  businesses,  has  the  effect  of  so  keeping  down  interest 
that  while  some  gain  others  lose,  and  not  a  few  are  ruined — 
if  capital,  not  getting  adequate  interest,  flows  elsewhere  and 
leaves  labour  unemployed ;  then  it  is  manifest  that  the 
choice  for  the  artisan  under  such  conditions,  lies  between 
diminished  amount  of  work  and  diminished  rate  of  payment 
for  it.  Moreover,  for  kindred  reasons  these  local  burdens 
raise  the  costs  of  the  things  he  consumes.  The  charges  made 
by  distributors  are,  on  the  average,  determined  by  the  current 
rates  of  interest  on  capital  used  in  distributing  businesses ; 
and  the  extra  costs  of  carrying  on  such  businesses  have  to  be 
paid  for  by  extra  prices  So  that  as  in  the  past  the  rural 
worker  lost  in  one  way  what  he  gained  in  another,  so  in  the 
present  does  the  urban  worker :  there  being,  too,  in  both 
cases,  the  loss  entailed  on  him  by  the  cost  of  administration 
and  the  waste  accompanying  it. 

"But what  has  all  this  to  do  with  'the  coming  slavery'?" 
will  perhaps  be  asked.  Nothing  directly,  but  a  good  deal 
indirectly,  as  we  shall  see  after  yet  another  preliminary  sec- 
tion. 

It  is  said  that  when  railways  were  first  opened  in  Spain, 
peasants  standing  on  the  tracks  were  not  unfrequently  run 
over ;  and  that  the  blame  fell  on  the  engine-drivers  for  not 
stopping :  rural  experiences  having  yielded  no  conception 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  309 

of  the  momentum  of  a  large  mass  moving  at  a  high  ve- 
locity. 

The  incident  is  recalled  to  me  on  contemplating  the  ideas 
of  the  so-called  "  practical "  politician,  into  whose  mind  there 
enters  no  thought  of  such  a  thing  as  political  momentum, 
still  less  of  a  political  momentum  which,  instead  of  diminish- 
ing or  remaining  constant,  increases.  The  theory  on  which 
he  daily  proceeds  is  that  the  change  caused  by  his  measure 
will  stop  where  he  intends  it  to  stop.  He  contemplates  in- 
tently the  things  his  act  will  achieve,  but  thinks  little  of 
the  remoter  issues  of  the  movement  his  act  sets  up,  and  still 
less  its  collateral  issues.  When,  in  war-time,  "food  for 
powder"  was  to  be  provided  by  encouraging  population — 
when  Mr.  Pitt  said,  "  Let  us  make  relief  in  cases  where  there 
are  a  number  of  children  a  matter  of  right  and  honour,  in- 
stead of  a  ground  for  opprobrium  and  contempt ; "  *  it  was 
not  expected  that  the  poor-rates  would  be  quadrupled  in  fifty 
years,  that  women  with  many  bastards  would  be  preferred  as 
wives  to  modest  women,  because  of  their  incomes  from  the- 
parish,  and  that  hosts  of  ratepayers  would  be  pulled  down 
into  the  ranks  of  pauperism.  Legislators  who  in  1833  voted 
£30,000  a  year  to  aid  in  building  school-houses,  never  sup- 
posed that  the  step  they  then  took  would  lead  to  forced  con- 
tributions, local  and  general,  now  amounting  to  £6,000,000  ;  f 
they  did  not  intend  to  establish  the  principle  that  A  should 
be  made  responsible  for  educating  B's  offspring;  they  did 
not  dream  of  a  compulsion  which  would  deprive  poor  widows 
of  the  help  of  their  elder  children ;  and  still  less  did  they 
dream  that  their  successors,  by  requiring  impoverished  par- 
ents to  apply  to  Boards  of  Guardians  to  pay  the  fees  which 
School  Boards  would  not  remit,  would  initiate  a  habit  of  ap- 
plying to  Boards  of  Guardians  and  so  cause  pauperization.^: 


*  Hansard's  Parliamentary  History,  32,  p.  710 

f  Since  this  was  written  the  sura  has  risen  to  £10,000,000;  i.e.,  in  1890. 

\  Forlnightly  Review,  January,  1884,  p.  17. 


310  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

Neither  did  those  who  in  1834  passed  an  Act  regulating  the 
labour  of  women  and  children  in  certain  factories,  imagine 
that  the  system  they  were  beginning  would  end  in  the  re- 
striction and  inspection  of  labour  in  all  kinds  of  producing 
establishments  where  more  than  fifty  people  are  employed ; 
nor  did  they  conceive  that  the  inspection  provided  would 
grow  to  the  extent  of  requiring  that  before  a  "  young  per- 
son "  is  employed  in  a  factory,  authority  must  be  given  by 
a  certifying  surgeon,  who,  by  personal  examination  (to  which 
no  limit  is  placed)  has  satisfied  himself  that  there  is  no  inca- 
pacitating disease  or  %,  bodily  infirmity :  his  verdict  deter- 
mining whether  the  "young  person"  shall  earn  wages  or 
not.*  Even  less,  as  I  say,  does  the  politician  who  plumes 
himself  on  the  practicalness  of  his  aims,  conceive  the  indi- 
rect results  which  will  follow  the  direct  results  of  his  meas- 
ures. Thus,  to  take  a  case  connected  with  one  named  above, 
it  was  not  intended  through  the  system  of  "  payment  by  re- 
sults," to  do  anything  more  than  give  teachers  an  efficient 
stimulus :  it  was  not  supposed  that  in  numerous  cases  their 
health  would  give  way  under  the  stimulus ;  it  was  not  ex- 
pected that  they  would  be  led  to  adopt  a  cramming  system 
and  to  put  undue  pressure  on  dull  and  weak  children,  often 
to  their  great  injury  ;  it  was  not  foreseen  that  in  many  cases 
a  bodily  enfeeblement  would  be  caused  which  no  amount  of 
grammar  and  geography  can  compensate  for.f  The  licensing 
of  public-houses  was  simply  for  maintaining  public  order : 
those  who  devised  it  never  imagined  that  there  would  result 
an  organized  interest  powerfully  influencing  elections  in  an 
unwholesome  way.  Nor  did  it  occur  to  the  "  practical  " 
politicians  who  provided  a  compulsory  load-line  for  merchant 
vessels,  that  the  pressure  of  ship-owners'  interests  would 

*  Factories  and  Workshops  Act,  41  and  42  Vic.,  cap.  16. 

f  Since  this  was  written,  these  mischiefs  have  come  to  be  recognized, 
and  the  system  is  in  course  of  abandonment ;  but  not  one  word  is  said 
about  the  immense  injury  the  Government  has  inflicted  on  millions  of 
children  during  the  last  20  years  1 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  311 

habitually  cause  the  putting  of  the  load-line  at  the  very  high- 
est limit,  and  that  from  precedent  to  precedent,  tending  ever 
in  the  same  direction,  the  load-line  would  gradually  rise  in 
the  better  class  of  ships ;  as  from  good  authority  I  learn  that 
it  has  already  done.  Legislators  who,  some  forty  years  ago, 
by  Act  of  Parliament  compelled  railway-companies  to  supply 
cheap  locomotion,  would  have  ridiculed  the  belief,  had  it 
been  expressed,  that  eventually  their  Act  would  punish  the 
companies  which  improved  the  supply ;  and  yet  this  was  the 
result  to  companies  which  began  to  carry  third-class  passen- 
gers by  fast  trains ;  since  a  penalty  to  the  amount  of  the 
passenger-duty  was  inflicted  on  them  for  every  third-class 
passenger  so  carried.  To  which  instance  concerning  railways, 
add  a  far  more  striking  one  disclosed  by  comparing  the  rail- 
way policies  of  England  and  France.  The  law-makers  who 
provided  for  the  ultimate  lapsing  of  French  railways  to  the 
State,  never  conceived  the  possibility  that  inferior  travelling 
facilities  would  result — did  not  foresee  that  reluctance  to 
depreciate  the  value  of  property  eventually  coming  to  the 
State,  would  negative  the  authorization  of  competing  lines, 
and  that  in  the  absence  of  competing  lines  locomotion  would 
be  relatively  costly,  slow,  and  infrequent ;  for,  as  Sir  Thomas 
Farrer  has  lately  shown,  the  traveller  in  England  has  great 
advantages  over  the  French  traveller  in  the  economy,  swift- 
ness, and  frequency  with  which  his  journeys  can  be  made. 

But  the  "  practical "  politician  who,  in  spite  of  such  expe- 
riences repeated  generation  after  generation,  goes  on  thinking 
only  of  proximate  results,  naturally  never  thinks  of  results 
still  more  remote,  still  more  general,  and  still  more  important 
than  those  just  exemplified.  To  repeat  the  metaphor  used 
above — he  never  asks  whether  the  political  momentum  set 
up  by  his  measure,  in  some  cases  decreasing  but  in  other 
cases  greatly  increasing,  will  or  will  not  have  the  same  gen- 
eral direction  with  other  like  momenta ;  and  whether  it  may 
not  join  them  in  presently  producing  an  aggregate  energy 
working  changes  never  thought  of.  Dwelling  only  on  the 


312  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

effects  of  his  particular  stream  of  legislation,  and  not  observ- 
ing how  such  other  streams  already  existing,  and  still  other 
streams  which  will  follow  his  initiative,  pursue  the  same 
average  course,  it  never  occurs  to  him  that  they  may  pres- 
ently unite  into  a  voluminous  flood  utterly  changing  the  face 
of  things.  Or  to  leave  figures  for  a  more  literal  statement, 
he  is  unconscious  of  the  truth  that  he  is  helping  to  form  a 
certain  type  of  social  organization,  and  that  kindred  meas- 
ures, effecting  kindred  changes  of  organization,  tend  with 
ever-increasing  force  to  make  that  type  general ;  until,  pass- 
ing a  certain  point,  the  proclivity  towards  it  becomes  irre- 
sistible. Just  as  each  society  aims  when  possible  to  produce 
in  other  societies  a  structure  akin  to  its  own — just  as  among 
the  Greeks,  the  Spartans  and  the  Athenians  struggled  to 
spread  their  respective  political  institutions,  or  as,  at  the 
time  of  the  French  Revolution,  the  European  absolute  mon- 
archies aimed  to  re-establish  absolute  monarchy  in  France 
while  the  Republic  encouraged  the  formation  of  other  re- 
publics;- so  within  every  society,  each  species  of  structure 
tends  to  propagate  itself.  Just  as  the  system  of  voluntary 
co-operation  by  companies,  associations,  unions,  to  achieve 
business  ends  and  other  ends,  spreads  throughout  a  com- 
munity ;  so  does  the  antagonistic  system  of  compulsory  co- 
operation under  State-agencies  spread;  and  the  larger  be- 
comes its  extension  the  more  power  of  spreading  it  gets. 
The  question  of  questions  for  the  politician  should  ever  be — 
u  What  type  of  social  structure  am  I  tending  to  produce  ? " 
But  this  is  a  question  he  never  entertains. 

Here  we  will  entertain  it  for  him.  Let  us  now  observe 
the  general  course  of  recent  changes,  with  the  accompanying 
current  of  ideas,  and  see  whither  they  are  carrying  us. 

The  blank  form  of  an  inquiry  daily  made  is — "  We  have 
already  done  this ;  why  should  we  not  do  that  ? "  And  the 
regard  for  precedent  suggested  by  it,  is  ever  pushing  011  regu- 
lative legislation.  Having  had  brought  within  their  sphere 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  313 

of  operation  more  and  more  numerous  businesses,  the  Acts 
restricting  hours  of  employment  and  dictating  the  treatment 
of  workers  are  now  to  be  made  applicable  to  shops.  From 
inspecting  lodging-houses  to  limit  the  numbers  of  occupants 
and  enforce  sanitary  conditions,  we  have  passed  to  inspecting 
all  houses  below  a  certain  rent  in  which  there  are  members 
of  more  than  one  family,  and  are  now  passing  to  a  kindred 
inspection  of  all  small  houses.*  The  buying  and  working  of 
telegraphs  by  the  State  is  made  a  reason  for  urging  that  the 
State  should  buy  and  work  the  railways.  Supplying  children 
with  food  for  their  minds  by  public  agency  is  being  followed 
in  some  cases  by  supplying  food  for  their  bodies ;  and  after 
the  practice  has  been  made  gradually  more  general,  we  may 
anticipate  that  the  supply,  now  proposed  to  be  made  gratis  in 
the  one  case,  will  eventually  be  proposed  to  be  made  gratis 
in  the  other :  the  argument  that  good  bodies  as  well  as  good 
minds  are  needful  to  make  good  citizens,  being  logically 
urged  as  a  reason  for  the  extension.f  And  then,  avowedly 
proceeding  on  the  precedents  furnished  by  the  church,  the 
school,  and  the  reading-room,  all  publicly  provided,  it  is  con- 
tended that  "  pleasure,  in  the  sense  it  is  now  generally  ad- 
mitted, needs  legislating  for  and  organizing  at  least  as  much 
as  work."  $ 

Not  precedent  only  prompts  this  spread,  but  also  the 
necessity  which  arises  for  supplementing  ineffective  measures, 
and  for  dealing  with  the  artificial  evils  continually  caused. 
Failure  does  not  destroy  faith  in  the  agencies  employed,  but 
merely  suggests  more  stringent  use  of  such  agencies  or  wider 

*  See  letter  of  Local  Government  Board,  Times,  January  2,  1884. 

f  Verification  comes  more  promptly  than  I  expected.  This  article  has 
been  standing  in  type  since  January  30,  and  in  the  interval,  namely  on 
March  13  [the  article  was  published  on  April  1],  the  London  School  Board 
resolved  to  apply  for  authority  to  use  local  charitable  funds  for  supplying 
gratis  meals  and  clothing  to  indigent  children.  Presently  the  definition 
of  "  indigent "  will  be  widened ;  more  children  will  be  included,  and  more 
funds  asked  for. 

J  Fortnightly  Review,  January,  1884,  p.  21. 


314  THE  MAN    VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

ramifications  of  them.  Laws  to  check  intemperance,  begin- 
ning in  early  times  and  coming  down  to  our  own  times,  not 
having  done  what  was  expected,  there  come  demands  for 
more  thorough-going  laws,  locally  preventing  the  sale  alto- 
gether; and  here,  as  in  America,  these  will  doubtless  be 
followed  by  demands  that  prevention  shall  be  made  universal. 
All  the  many  appliances  for  "  stamping  out "  epidemic  dis- 
eases not  having  succeeded  in  preventing  outbreaks  of  small- 
pox, fevers,  and  the  like,  a  further  remedy  is  applied  for  in 
the  shape  of  police-power  to  search  houses  for  diseased 
persons,  and  authority  for  medical  officers  to  examine  any 
one  they  think  fit,  to  see  whether  he  or  she  is  suffering  from 
an  infectious  or  contagious  malady.  Habits  of  improvidence 
having  for  generations  been  cultivated  by  the  Poor-Law,  and 
the  improvident  enabled  to  multiply,  the  evils  produced  by 
compulsory  charity  are  now  proposed  to  be  met  by  compul- 
sory insurance. 

The  extension  of  this  policy,  causing  extension  of  corre- 
sponding ideas,  fosters  everywhere  the  tacit  assumption  that 
Government  should  step  in  whenever  anything  is  not  going 
right.  "  Surely  you  would  not  have  this  misery  continue ! " 
exclaims  some  one,  if  you  hint  a  demurrer  to  much  that  is 
now  being  said  and  done.  Observe  what  is  implied  by  this 
exclamation.  It  takes  for  granted,  first,  that  all  suffering 
ought  to  be  prevented,  which  is  not  true  :  much  of  the  suffer- 
ing is  curative,  and  prevention  of  it  is  prevention  of  a  remedy. 
In  the  second  place,  it  takes  for  granted  that  every  evil  can 
be  removed :  the  truth  being  that,  with  the  existing  defects 
of  human  nature,  many  evils  can  only  be  thrust  out  of  one 
place  or  form  into  another  place  or  form — often  being  in- 
creased by  the  change.  The  exclamation  also  implies  the 
unhesitating  belief,  here  especially  concerning  us,  that  evils 
of  all  kinds  should  be  dealt  with  by  the  State.  There  does 
not  occur  the  inquiry  whether  there  are  at  work  other  agen- 
cies capable  of  dealing  with  evils,  and  whether  the  evils  in 
question  may  not  be  among  those  which  are  best  dealt  with 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  315 

by  these  other  agencies.  And  obviously,  the  more  numerous 
governmental  interventions  become,  the  more  confirmed  does 
this  habit  of  thought  grow,  and  the  more  loud  and  perpetual 
the  demands  for  intervention. 

Every  extension  of  the  regulative  policy  involves  an  addi- 
tion to  the  regulative  agents — a  further  growth  of  officialism 
and  an  increasing  power  of  the  organization  formed  of 
officials.  Take  a  pair  of  scales  with  many  shot  in  the  one 
and  a  few  in  the  other.  Lift  shot  after  shot  out  of  the  loaded 
scale  and  put  it  into  the  unloaded  scale.  Presently  you  will 
produce  a  balance ;  and  if  you  go  on,  the  position  of  the 
scales  will  be  reversed.  Suppose  the  beam  to  be  unequally 
divided,  and  let  the  lightly  loaded  scale  be  at  the  end  of  a 
very  long  arm  ;  then  the  transfer  of  each  shot,  producing  a 
much  greater  effect,  will  far  sooner  bring  about  a  change  of 
position.  I  use  the  figure  to  illustrate  what  results  from 
transferring  one  individual  after  another  from  the  regulated 
mass  of  the  community  to  the  regulating  structures.  The 
transfer  weakens  the  one  and  strengthens  the  other  in  a  far 
greater  degree  than  is  implied  by  the  relative  change  of 
numbers.  A  comparatively  small  body  of  officials,  coherent, 
having  common  interests,  and  acting  under  central  authority, 
has  an  immense  advantage  over  an  incoherent  public  which 
has  no  settled  policy,  and  can  be  brought  to  act  unitedly 
only  under  strong  provocation.  Hence  an  organization  of 
officials,  once  passing  a  certain  stage  of  growth,  becomes 
less  and  less  resistible ;  as  we  see  in  the  bureaucracies  of 
the  Continent. 

Not  only  does  the  power  of  resistance  of  the  regulated 
part  decrease  in  a  geometrical  ratio  as  the  regulating  part 
increases,  but  the  private  interests  of  many  in  the  regulated 
part  itself,  make  the  change  of  ratio  still  more  rapid.  In 
every  circle  conversations  show  that  now,  when  the  passing 
of  competitive  examinations  renders  them  eligible  for  the 
public  service,  youths  are  being  educated  in  such  ways  that 
they  may  pass  them  and  get  employment  under  Government. 


316  THE  MAN    VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

One  consequence  is  that  men  who  might  otherwise  reprobate 
further  growth  of  officialism,  are  led  to  look  on  it  with 
tolerance,  if  not  favourably,  as  offering  possible  careers  for 
those  dependent  on  them  and  those  related  to  them.  Any 
one  who  remembers  the  numbers  of  upper-class  and  middle- 
class  families  anxious  to  place  their  children,  will  see  that  no 
small  encouragement  to  the  spread  of  legislative  control  is 
now  coming  from  those  who,  -but  for  the  personal  interests 
thus  arising,  would  be  hostile  to  it. 

This  pressing  desire  for  careers  is  enforced  by  the  pref- 
erence for  careers  which  are  thought  respectable.  "Even 
should  his  salary  be  small,  his  occupation  will  be  that  of  a 
gentleman,"  thinks  the  father,  who  wants  to  get  a  Govern- 
ment-clerkship for  his  son.  And  this  relative  dignity  of 
State-servants  as  compared  with  those  occupied  in  business 
increases  as  the  administrative  organization  becomes  a  larger 
and  more  powerful  element  in  society,  and  tends  more  and 
more  to  fix  the  standard  of  honour.  The  prevalent  ambition 
with  a  young  Frenchman  is  to  get  some  small  official  post 
in  his  locality,  to  rise  thence  to  a  place  in  the  local  centre  of 
government,  and  finally  to  reach  some  head-office  in  Paris. 
And  in  Russia,  where  that  universality  of  State-regulation 
which  characterizes  the  militant  type  of  society  has  been 
carried  furthest,  we  see  this  ambition  pushed  to  its  extreme. 
Says  Mr.  Wallace,  quoting  a  passage  from  a  play : — "  All 
men,  even  shopkeepers  and  cobblers,  aim  at  becoming  officers, 
and  the  man  who  has  passed  his  whole  life  without  official 
rank  seems  to  be  not  a  human  being."  * 

These  various  influences  working  from  above  downwards, 
meet  with  an  increasing  response  of  expectations  and  solici- 
tations proceeding  from  below  upwards.  The  hard-worked 
and  over-burdened  who  form  the  great  majority,  and  still 
more  the  incapables  perpetually  helped  who  are  ever  led  to 
look  for  more  help,  are  ready  supporters  of  schemes  which 

*  Russia,  i,  422. 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  317 

promise  them  this  or  the  other  benefit  by  State-agency,  and 
ready  believers  of  those  who  tell  them  that  such  benefits  can 
be  given,  and  ought  to  be  given.  They  listen  with  eager 
faith  to  all  builders  of  political  air-castles,  from  Oxford 
graduates  down  to  Irish  irreconcilables ;  and  every  addi- 
tional tax-supported  appliance  for  their  welfare  raises  hopes 
of  further  ones.  Indeed  the  more  numerous  public  instru- 
mentalities become,  the  more  is  there  generated  in  citizens 
the  notion  that  everything  is  to  be  done  for  them,  and 
nothing  by  them.  Each  generation  is  made  less  familiar 
with  the  attainment  of  desired  ends  by  individual  actions  or 
private  combinations,  and  more  familiar  with  the  attainment 
of  them  by  governmental  agencies ;  until,  eventually,  govern- 
mental agencies  come  to  be  thought  of  as  the  only  available 
agencies.  This  result  was  well  shown  in  the  recent  Trades- 
Unions  Congress  at  Paris.  The  English  delegates,  report- 
ing to  their  constituents,  said  that  between  themselves  and 
their  foreign  colleagues  "  the  point  of  difference  was  the 
extent  to  which  the  State  should  be  asked  to  protect  labour ; " 
reference  being  thus  made  to  the  fact,  conspicuous  in  the 
reports  of  the  proceedings,  that  the  French  delegates  always 
invoked  governmental  power  as  the  only  means  of  satisfying 
their  wishes. 

The  diffusion  of  education  has  worked,  and  will  work 
still  more,  in  the  same  direction.  "  We  must  educate  our 
masters,"  is  the  well-known  saying  of  a  Liberal  who  opposed 
the  last  extension  of  the  franchise.  Yes,  if  the  education 
were  worthy  to  be  so  called,  and  were  relevant  to  the  politi- 
cal enlightenment  needed,  much  might  be  hoped  from  it. 
But  knowing  rules  of  syntax,  being  able  to  add  up  correctly, 
having  geographical  information,  and  a  memory  stocked  with 
the  dates  of  kings'  accessions  and  generals'  victories,  no  more 
implies  fitness  to  form  political  conclusions  than  acquirement 
of  skill  in  drawing  implies  expertness  in  telegraphing,  or 
than  ability  to  play  cricket  implies  proficiency  on  the  violin. 

"  Surely,"  rejoins  some  one,  "  facility  in  reading  opens  the 
21 


318  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

way  to  political  knowledge."  Doubtless ;  but  will  the  way 
be  followed  ?  Table-talk  proves  that  nine  out  of  ten  people 
read  what  amuses  them  rather  than  what  instructs  them  ;  and 
proves,  also,  that  the  last  thing  they  read  is  something  which 
tells  them  disagreeable  truths  or  dispels  groundless  hopes. 
That  popular  education  results  in  an  extensive  reading  of 
publications  which  foster  pleasant  illusions  rather  than  of 
those  which  insist  on  hard  realities,  is  beyond  question.  Says 
"  A  Mechanic,"  writing  in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  of  Decem- 
ber 3,  1883  :— 

' '  Improved  education  instils  the  desire  for  culture — culture  instils 
the  desire  for  many  things  as  yet  quite  beyond  working  men's  reach 
....  in  the  furious  competition  to  which  the  present  age  is  given  up 
they  are  utterly  impossible  to  the  poorer  classes  ;  hence  they  are  dis- 
contented with  things  as  they  are,  and  the  more  educated  the  more 
discontented.  Hence,  too,  Mr.  Buskin  and  Mr.  Morris  are  regarded  as 
true  prophets  by  many  of  us." 

And  that  the  connexion  of  cause  and  effect  here  alleged  is  a 
real  one,  we  may  see  clearly  enough  in  the  present  state  of 
Germany. 

Being  possessed  of  electoral  power,  as  are  now  the  mass 
of  those  who  are  thus  led  to  nurture  sanguine  anticipations 
of  benefits  to  be  obtained  by  social  reorganization,  it  results 
that  whoever  seeks  their  votes  must  at  least  refrain  from  ex- 
posing their  mistaken  beliefs ;  even  if  he  does  not  yield  to 
the  temptation  to  express  agreement  with  them.  Every  can- 
didate for  Parliament  is  prompted  to  propose  or  support  some 
new  piece  of  ad  captandum  legislation.  Nay,  even  the  chiefs 
of  parties — these  anxious  to  retain  office  and  those  to  wrest  it 
from  them — severally  aim  to  get  adherents  by  outbidding  one 
another.  Each  seeks  popularity  by  promising  more  than  his 
opponent  has  promised,  as  we  have  lately  seen.  And  then, 
as  divisions  in  Parliament  show  us,  the  traditional  loyalty  to 
leaders  overrides  questions  concerning  the  intrinsic  propriety 
of  proposed  measures.  Representatives  are  unconscientious 
enough  to  vote  for  Bills  which  they  believe  to  be  wrong  in 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  319 

principle,  because  party-needs  and  regard  for  the  next  elec- 
tion demand  it.  And  thus  a  vicious  policy  is  strengthened 
even  by  those  who  see  its  viciousness. 

Meanwhile  there  goes  on  out-of-doors  an  active  propa- 
ganda to  which  all  these  influences  are  ancillary.  Commu- 
nistic theories,  partially  indorsed  by  one  Act  of  Parliament 
after  another,  and  tacitly  if  not  avowedly  favoured  by  nu- 
merous public  men  seeking  supporters,  are  being  advocated 
more  and  more  vociferously  by  popular  leaders,  and  urged 
on  by  organized  societies.  There  is  the  movement  for  land- 
nationalization  which,  aiming  at  a  system  of  land-tenure 
equitable  in  the  abstract,  is,  as  all  the  world  knows,  pressed 
by  Mr.  George  and  his  friends  with  avowed  disregard  for 
the  just  claims  of  existing  owners,  and  as  the  basis  of  a 
scheme  going  more  than  half-way  to  State-socialism.  And 
then  there  is  the  thorough-going  Democratic  Federation  of 
Mr.  Ilyndman  and  his  adherents.  We  are  told  by  them  that 
"  the  handful  of  marauders  who  now  hold  possession  [of  the 
land]  have  and  can  have  no  right  save  brute  force  against  the 
tens  of  millions  whom  they  wrong."  They  exclaim  against 
"  the  shareholders  who  have  been  allowed  to  lay  hands 
upon  (!)  our  great  railway  communications."  They  condemn 
"  above  all,  the  active  capitalist  class,  the  loan-mongers,  the 
farmers,  the  mine  exploiters,  the  contractors,  the  middle- 
men, the  factory-lords — these,  the  modern  slave  drivers" 
who  exact  "more  and  yet  more  surplus  value  out  of  the 
wage-slaves  whom  they  employ."  And  they  think  it  "  high 
time "  that  trade  should  be  "  removed  from  the  control  of 
individual  greed."  * 

It  remains  to  point  out  that  the  tendencies  thus  variously 
displayed,  are  being  strengthened  by  press  advocacy,  daily 
more  pronounced.  Journalists,  always  chary  of  saying  that 
which  is  distasteful  to  their  readers,  are  some  of  them  going 
with  the  stream  and  adding  to  its  force.  Legislative  med- 

*  Socialism  made  Plain,     Keevcs,  185,  Fleet  Street. 


320         TnE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

dlings  which  they  would  once  have  condemned  they  now 
pass  in  silence,  if  they  do  not  advocate  them ;  and  they  speak 
of  laissez-faire  as  an  exploded  doctrine.  "  People  are  no 
longer  frightened  at  the  thought  of  socialism,"  is  the  state- 
ment which  meets  us  one  day.  On  another  day,  a  town 
which  does  not  adopt  the  Free  Libraries  Act  is  sneered  at 
as  being  alarmed  by  a  measure  so  moderately  communistic. 
And  then,  along  with  editorial  assertions  that  this  economic 
evolution  is  coming  and  must  be  accepted,  there  is  promi- 
nence given  to  the  contributions  of  its  advocates.  Mean- 
while those  who  regard  the  recent  course  of  legislation  as 
disastrous,  and  see  that  its  future  course  is  likely  to  be  still 
more  disastrous,  are  being  reduced  to  silence  by  the  belief 
that  it  is  useless  to  reason  with  people  in  a  state  of  political 
intoxication. 

See,  then,  the  many  concurrent  causes  which  threaten 
continually  to  accelerate  the  transformation  now  going  on. 
There  is  that  spread  of  regulation  caused  by  following  prec- 
edents, which  become  the  more  authoritative  the  further  the 
policy  is  carried.  There  is  that  increasing  need  for  adminis- 
trative compulsions  and  restraints,  which  results  from  the 
unforeseen  evils  and  shortcomings  of  preceding  compulsions 
and  restraints.  Moreover,  every  additional  State-interfer- 
ence strengthens  the  tacit  assumption  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  State  to  deal  with  all  evils  and  secure  all  benefits.  In- 
creasing power  of  a  growing  administrative  organization  is 
accompanied  by  decreasing  power  of  the  rest  of  the  society 
to  resist  its  further  growth  and  control.  The  multiplication 
of  careers  opened  by  a  developing  bureaucracy,  tempts  mem- 
bers of  the  classes  regulated  by  it  to  favour  its  extension,  as 
adding  to  the  chances  of  safe  and  respectable  places  for  their 
relatives.  The  people  at  large,  led  to  look  on  benefits  re- 
ceived through  public  agencies  as  gratis  benefits,  have  their 
hopes  continually  excited  by  the  prospects  of  more.  A 
spreading  education,  furthering  the  diffusion  of  pleasing 
errors  rather  than  of  stern  truths,  renders  such  hopes  both 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  321 

stronger  and  more  general.  Worse  still,  such  hopes  are 
ministered  to  by  candidates  for  public  choice,  to  augment 
their  chances  of  success  ;  and  leading  statesmen,  in  pursuit  of 
party  ends,  bid  for  popular  favour  by  countenancing  them. 
Getting  repeated  justifications  from  new  laws  harmonizing 
with  their  doctrines,  political  enthusiasts  and  unwise  philan- 
thropists push  their  agitations  with  growing  confidence  and 
success.  Journalism,  ever  responsive  to  popular  opinion, 
daily  strengthens  it  by  giving  it  voice ;  while  counter-opinion, 
more  and  more  discouraged,  finds  little  utterance. 

Thus  influences  of  various  kinds  conspire  to  increase 
corporate  action  and  decrease  individual  action.  And  the 
change  is  being  on  all  sides  aided  by  schemers,  each  of  whom 
thinks  only  of  his  pet  plan  and  not  at  all  of  the  general  re- 
organization which  his  plan,  joined  with  others  such,  are  work- 
ing out.  It  is  said  that  the  French  Revolution  devoured  its 
own  children.  Here,  an  analogous  castastrophe  seems  not 
unlikely.  The  numerous  socialistic  changes  made  by  Act  of 
Parliament,  joined  with  the  numerous  others  presently  to  be 
made,  will  by-and-by  be  all  merged  in  State-socialism — 
swallowed  in  the  vast  wave  which  they  have  little  by  little 
raised. 

"But  why  is  this  change  described  as  'the  coming 
slavery'  ?"  is  a  question  which  many  will  still  ask.  The 
reply  is  simple.  All  socialism  involves  slavery. 

What  is  essential  to  the  idea  of  a  slave  ?  We  primarily 
think  of  him  as  one  who  is  owned  by  another.  To  be  more 
than  nominal,  however,  the  ownership  must  be  shown  by 
control  of  the  slave's  actions- — a  control  which  is  habitually 
for  the  benefit  of  the  controller.  That  which  fundamentally 
distinguishes  the  slave  is  that  he  labours  under  coercion  to 
satisfy  another's  desires.  The  relation  admits  of  sundry 
gradations.  Remembering  that  originally  the  slave  is  a 
prisoner  whose  life  is  at  the  mercy  of  his  captor,  it  suffices 
here  to  note  that  there  is  a  harsh  form  of  slavery  in  which, 


322  THE  MAN    VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

treated  as  an  animal,  he  has  to  expend  his  entire  effort  for  his 
owner's  advantage.  Under  a  system  less  harsh,  though 
occupied  chiefly  in  working  for  his  owner,  he  is  allowed  a 
short  time  in  which  to  work  for  himself,  and  some  ground 
on  which  to  grow  extra  food.  A  further  amelioration  gives 
him  power  to  sell  the  produce  of  his  plot  and  keep  the  pro- 
ceeds. Then  we  come  to  the  still  more  moderated  form 
which  commonly  arises  where,  liaving  been  a  free  man  work- 
ing on  his  own  land,  conquest  turns  him  into  what  we  dis- 
tinguish as  a  serf ;  and  he  has  to  give  to  his  owner  each  year 
a  fixed  amount  of  labour  or  produce,  or  both :  retaining  the 
rest  himself.  Finally,  in  some  cases,  as  in  Russia  before 
serfdom  was  abolished,  he  is  allowed  to  leave  his  owner's 
estate  and  work  or  trade  for  himself  elsewhere,  under  the 
condition  that  he  shall  pay  an  annual  sum.  What  is  it 
which,  in  these  cases,  leads  us  to  qualify  our  conception  of 
the  slavery  as  more  or  less  severe  ?  Evidently  the  greater 
or  smaller  extent  to  which  effort  is  compulsorily  expended 
for  the  benefit  of  another  instead  of  for  self-benefit.  If  all 
the  slave's  labour  is  for  his  owner  the  slavery  is  heavy,  and 
if  but  little  it  is  light.  Take  now  a  further  step.  Suppose 
an  owner  dies,  and  his  estate  with  its  slaves  comes  into  the 
hands  of  trustees ;  or  suppose  the  estate  and  everything  on 
it  to  be  bought  by  a  company  ;  is  the  condition  of  the  slave 
any  the  better  if  the  amount  of  his  compulsory  labour  re- 
mains the  same  ?  Suppose  that  for  a  company  we  substitute 
the  community ;  does  it  make  any  difference  to  the  slave  if 
the  time  he  has  to  work  for  others  is  as  great,  and  the  time 
left  for  himself  is  as  small,  as  before  ?  The  essential  ques- 
tion is — How  much  is  he  compelled  to  labour  for  other 
benefit  than  his  own,  and  how  much  can  he  labour  for  his 
own  benefit?  The  degree  of  his  slavery  varies  according  to 
the  ratio  between  that  which  he  is  forced  to  yield  up  and 
that  which  he  is  allowed  to  retain ;  and  it  matters  not 
whether  his  master  is  a  single  person  or  a  society.  If,  with- 
out option,  he  has  to  labour  for  the  society,  and  receives  from 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  323 

the  general  stock  such  portion  as  the  society  awards  him,  he 
becomes  a  slave  to  the  society.  Socialistic  arrangements 
necessitate  an  enslavement  of  this  kind ;  and  towards  such 
an  enslavement  many  recent  measures,  and  still  more  the 
measures  advocated,  are  carrying  us.  Let  us  observe, 
first,  their  proximate  effects,  and  then  their  ultimate  ef- 
fects 

The  policy  initiated  by  the  Industrial  Dwellings  Acts  ad- 
mits of  development,  and  will  develop.  "Where  municipal 
bodies  turn  house-builders,  they  inevitably  lower  the  values 
of  houses  otherwise  built,  and  check  the  supply  of  more. 
Every  dictation  respecting  modes  of  building  and  conven- 
iences to  be  provided,  diminishes  the  builder's  profit,  and 
prompts  him  to  use  his  capital  where  the  profit  is  not  thus 
diminished.  So,  too,  the  owner,  already  finding  that  small 
houses  entail  much  labour  and  many  losses — already  subject 
to  troubles  of  inspection  and  interference,  and  to  consequent 
costs,  and  having  his  property  daily  rendered  a  more  un- 
desirable investment,  is  prompted  to  sell ;  and  as  buyers 
are  for  like  reasons  deterred,  he  has  to  sell  at  a  loss.  And 
now  these  still-multiplying  regulations,  ending,  it  may  be,  as 
Lord  Grey  proposes,  in  one  requiring  the  owner  to  maintain 
the  salubrity  of  his  houses  by  evicting  dirty  tenants,  and 
thus  adding  to  his  other  responsibilities  that  of  inspector  of 
nuisances,  must  further  prompt  sales  and  further  deter  pur- 
chasers :  so  necessitating  greater  depreciation.  What  must 
happen  ?  The  multiplication  of  houses,  and  especially  small 
houses,  being  increasingly  checked,  there  must  come  an  in- 
creasing demand  upon  the  local  authority  to  make  up  for  the 
deficient  supply.  More  and  more  the  municipal  or  kindred 
body  will  have  to  build  houses,  or  to  purchase  houses 
rendered  unsaleable  to  private  persons  in  the  way  shown — 
houses  which,  greatly  lowered  in  value  as  they  must  become, 
it  will,  in  many  cases,  pay  to  buy  rather  than  to  build  new 
ones.  Nay,  this  process  must  work  in  a  double  way  ;  since 
every  entailed  increase  of  local  taxation  still  further  depre- 


324        THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

ciates  property.*  And  then  when  in  towns  this  process  has 
gone  so  far  as  to  make  the  local  authority  the  chief  owner  of 
houses,  there  will  be  a  good  precedent  for  publicly  providing 
houses  for  the  rural  population,  as  proposed  in  the  Radical 
programme,1!  and  as  urged  by  the  Democratic  Federation ; 
which  insists  on  "the  compulsory  construction  of  healthy 
artisans'  and  agricultural  labourers'  dwellings  in  proportion 
to  the  population."  Manifestly",  the  tendency  of  that  which 
has  been  done,  is  being  done,  and  is  presently  to  be  done,  is 
to  approach  the  socialistic  ideal  in  which  the  community  is 
sole  house-proprietor. 

Such,  too,  must  be  the  effect  of  the  daily-growing  policy 
on  the  tenure  and  utilization  of  the  land.  More  numerous 
public  benefits,  to  be  achieved  by  more  numerous  public 
agencies,  at  the  cost  of  augmented  public  burdens,  must  in- 
creasingly deduct  from  the  returns  on  land  ;  until,  as  the 
depreciation  in  value  becomes  greater  and  greater,  the  resist- 
ance to  change  of  tenure  becomes  less  and  less.  Already,  as 
every  one  knows,  there  is  in  many  places  difficulty  in  ob- 
taining tenants,  even  at  greatly  reduced  rents ;  and  land  of 
inferior  fertility  in  some  cases  lies  idle,  or  when  farmed  by 
the  owner  is  often  farmed  at  a  loss.  Clearly  the  profit  on 
capital  invested  in  land  is  not  such  that  taxes,  local  and 
general,  can  be  greatly  raised  to  support  extended  public  ad- 


*  If  any  one  thinks  such  fears  are  groundless,  let  him  contemplate  the 
fact  that  from  1867-8  to  1880-1,  our  annual  local  expenditure  for  the  United 
Kingdom  has  grown  from  £36,132,834  to  £63,276,283;  and  that  during  the 
same  13  years,  the  municipal  expenditure  in  England  and  Wales  alone,  has 
grown  from  13  millions  to  30  millions  a  year  !  How  the  increase  of  public 
burdens  will  join  with  other  causes  in  bringing  about  public  ownership,  is 
shown  by  a  statement  made  by  Mr.  W.  Rathbone,  M.  P.,  to  which  my  atten- 
tion has  been  drawn  since  the  above  paragraph  was  in  type.  He  says,  "  with- 
in my  own  experience,  local  taxation  in  New  York  has  risen  from  12s.  Gd 
per  cent,  to  £2  12s.  Gd.  per  cent,  on  the  capital  of  its  citizens — a  charge 
which  would  more  than  absorb  the  whole  income  of  an  average  English 
landlord." — Nineteenth  Century,  February,  1883. 

f  Fortnightly  Review,  November,  1883,  pp.  619-20. 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  325 

ministrations,  without  an  absorption  of  it  which  will  prompt 
owners  to  sell,  and  make  the  best  of  what  reduced  price  they 
can  get  by  emigrating  and  buying  land  not  subject  to  heavy 
burdens ;  as,  indeed,  some  are  now  doing.  This  process, 
carried  far,  must  have  the  result  of  throwing  inferior  land 
out  of  cultivation;  after  which  there  will  be  raised  more 
generally  the  demand  made  by  Mr.  Arch,  who,  addressing 
the  Radical  Association  of  Brighton  lately,  and,  contending 
that  existing  landlords  do  not  make  their  land  adequately 
productive  for  the  public  benefit,  said  "he  should  like  the 
present  Government  to  pass  a  Compulsory  Cultivation  Bill : " 
an  applauded  proposal  which  he  justified  by  instancing  com- 
pulsory vaccination  (thus  illustrating  the  influence  of  prece- 
dent). And  this  demand  will  be  pressed,  not  only  by  the 
need  for  making  the  land  productive,  but  also  by  the  need 
for  employing  the  rural  population.  After  the  Government 
has  extended  the  practice  of  hiring  the  unemployed  to  work 
on  deserted  lands,  or  lands  acquired  at  nominal  prices,  there 
will  be  reached  a  stage  whence  there  is  but  a  small  further 
step  to  that  arrangement  which,  in  the  programme  of  the 
Democratic  Federation,  is  to  follow  nationalization  of  the 
land — the  "  organization  of  agricultural  and  industrial  armies 
under  State  control  on  co-operative  principles." 

To  one  who  doubts  whether  such  a  revolution  may  be  so 
reached,  facts  may  be  cited  showing  its  likelihood.  In  Gaul, 
during  the  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire,  "  so  numerous  were 
the  receivers  in  comparison  with  the  payers,  and  so  enormous 
the  weight  of  taxation,  that  the  labourer  broke  down,  the 
plains  became  deserts,  and  woods  grew  where  the  plough  had 
been."  *  In  like  manner,  when  the  French  Revolution  was 
approaching,  the  public  burdens  had  become  such,  that  many 
farms  remained  uncultivated  and  many  were  deserted :  one- 
quarter  of  the  soil  was  absolutely  lying  waste ;  and  in  some 
provinces  one-half  was  in  heath. f  Nor  have  we  been  without 

*  Lactant.     De  M.  Persecut.,  cc.  7,  23. 

f  Taine,  L'Ancien  Regime,  pp.'  337-8  (in  the  English  Translation). 


326  THE  MAN   VEfi&US  THE  STATE. 

incidents  of  a  kindred  nature  at  home.  Besides  the  facts  that 
under  the  old  Poor  Law  the  rates  had  in  some  parishes  risen 
to  half  the  rental,  and  that  in  various  places  farms  were  lying 
idle,  there  is  the  fact  that  in  one  case  the  rates  had  absorbed 
the  whole  proceeds  of  the  soil. 

At  Cholesbury,  in  Buckinghamshire,  in  1832,  the  poor  rate  "sud- 
denly ceased  in  consequence  of  the  impossibility  to  continue  its 
collection,  the  landlords  have  given  up  their  rents,  the  farmers  their 
tenancies,  and  the  clergyman  his  glebe  and  his  tithes.  The  clergyman, 
Mr.  Jeston,  states  that  in  October.  183.2,  the  parish  officers  threw  up 
their  books,  and  the  poor  assembled  in  a  body  before  his  door  while 
he  was  in  bed,  asking  for  advice  and  food.  Partly  from  his  own  small 
means,  partly  from  the  charity  of  neighbours,  and  partly  by  rates  in 
aid,  imposed  on  the  neighbouring  parishes,  they  were  for  some  time 
supported."* 

And  the  Commissioners  add  that  "the  benevolent  rector 
recommends  that  the  whole  of  the  land  should  be  divided 
among  the  able-bodied  paupers : "  hoping  that  after  help 
afforded  for  two  years  they  might  be  able  to  maintain  them- 
selves. These  facts,  giving  colour  to  the  prophecy  made  in 
Parliament  that  continuance  of  the  old  Poor  Law  for  another 
thirty  years  would  throw  the  land  out  of  cultivation,  clearly 
show  that  increase  of  public  burdens  may  end  in  forced 
cultivation  under  public  control. 

Then,  again,  comes  State-ownership  of  railways.  Already 
this  exists  to  a  large  extent  on  the  Continent.  Already  we 
have  had  here  a  few  years  ago  loud  advocacy  of  it.  And 
now  the  cry,  which  was  raised  by  sundry  politicians  and 
publicists,  is  taken  up  afresh  by  the  Democratic  Federation  ; 
which  proposes  "  State-appropriation  of  railways,  with  or 
without  compensation."  Evidently  pressure  from  above 
joined  by  pressure  from  below,  is  likely  to  effect  this  change 
dictated  by  the  policy  everywhere  spreading;  and  with  it 
must  come  many  attendant  changes.  For  rail  way -proprietors, 

*  Report  of  Commissioners  for  Inquiry  into  the  Administration  and 
Practical  Operation  of  the  Poor  Laws,  p. -37.  February  20,  1834. 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  32 T 

at  first  owners  and  workers  of  railways  only,  have  become 
masters  of  numerous  businesses  directly  or  indirectly  con- 
nected with  railways ;  and  these  will  have  to  be  purchased  by 
Government  when  the  railways  are  purchased.  Already 
exclusive  letter-carrier,  exclusive  transmitter  of  teleo-rams, 

7  O 

and  on  the  way  to  become  exclusive  carrier  of  parcels,  the 
State  will  not  only  be  exclusive  carrier  of  passengers,  goods, 
and  minerals,  but  will  add  to  its  present  various  trades  many 
other  trades.  Even  now,  besides  erecting  its  naval  and 
military  establishments  and  building  harbours,  docks,  break- 
waters, &c.,  it  does  the  work  of  ship-builder,  cannon-founder, 
small-arms  maker,  manufacturer  of  ammunition,  army-clothier 
and  boot-maker;  and  when  the  railways  have  been  appro- 
priated "  with  or  without  compensation,"  as  the  Democratic 
Federationists  say,  it  will  have  to  become  locomotive-engine- 
builder,  carriage-maker,  tarpaulin  and  grease  manufacturer, 
passenger-vessel  owner,  coal-miner,  stone-quarrier,  omnibus 
proprietor,  &c.  Meanwhile  its  local  lieutenants,  the  municipal 
governments,  already  in  may  places  suppliers  of  water,  gas- 
makers,  owners  and  workers  of  tramways,  proprietors  of 
baths,  will  doubtless  have  undertaken  various  other  businesses. 
And  when  the  State,  directly  or  by  proxy,  has  thus  come  into 
possession  of,  or  has  established,  numerous  concerns  for 
wholesale  production  and  for  wholesale  distribution,  there 
will  be  good  precedents  for  extending  its  function  to  retail 
distribution:  following  such  an  example,  say,  as  is  oifered 
by  the  French  Government,  which  has  long  been  a  retail 
tobacconist. 

Evidently  then,  the  changes  made,  the  changes  in  progress, 
and  the  changes  urged,  will  carry  us  not  only  towards  State- 
ownership  of  land  and  dwellings  and  means  of  communica- 
tion, all  to  be  administered  and  worked  by  State-agents,  but 
towards  State-usurpation  of  all  industries :  the  private  forms 
of  which,  disadvantaged  more  and  more  in  competition  witli 
the  State,  which  can  arrange  everything  for  its  own  conven- 
ience, will  more  and  more  die  away ;  just  as  many  voluntary 


323  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

schools  have,  in  presence  of  Board-schools.     And  so  will  be 
brought  about  the  desired  ideal  of  the  socialists. 

And  now  when  there  has  been  compassed  this  desired 
ideal,  which  "practical"  politicians  are  helping  socialists  to 
reach,  and  which  is  so  tempting  on  that  bright  side  which 
socialists  contemplate,  what  must  be  the  accompanying  shady 
side  which  they  do  not  contemplate  ?  It  is  a  matter  of 
common  remark,  often  made  when  a  marriage  is  impending, 
that  those  possessed  by  strong  hopes  habitually  dwell  on  the 
promised  pleasures  and  think  nothing  of  the  accompanying 
pains.  A  further  exemplification  of  this  truth  is  supplied 
by  these  political  enthusiats  and  fanatical  revolutionists. 
Impressed  with  the  miseries  existing  under  our  present  social 
arrangements,  and  not  regarding  these  miseries  as  caused  by 
the  ill-working  of  a  human  nature  but  partially  adapted  to 
the  social  state,  they  imagine  them  to  be  forthwith  curable  by 
this  or  that  rearrangement.  Yet,  even  did  their  plans  succeed 
it  could  only  be  by  substituting  one  kind  of  evil  for  another. 
A  little  deliberate  thought  would  show  that  under  their  pro- 
posed arrangements,  their  liberties  must  be  surrendered  in 
proportion  as  their  material  welfares  were  cared  for. 

For  no  form  of  co-operation,  small  or  great,  can  be  carried 
on  without  regulation,  and  an  implied  submission  to  the  reg- 
ulating agencies.  Even  one  of  their  own  organizations  for 
effecting  social  changes  yields  them  proof.  It  is  compelled 
to  have  its  councils,  its  local  and  general  officers,  its  authori- 
tative leaders,  who  must  be  obeyed  under  penalty  of  confusion 
and  failure.  And  the  experience  of  those  who  are  loudest  in 
their  advocacy  of  a  new  social  order  under  the  paternal 
control  of  a  Government,  shows  that  even  in  private  volun- 
tarily-formed societies,  the  power  of  the  regulative  organiza- 
tion becomes  great,  if  not  irresistible :  often,  indeed,  causing 
grumbling  and  restiveness  among  those  controlled.  Trades- 
unions  which  carry  on  a  kind  of  industrial  war  in  defence  of 
workers'  interests  versus  employers'  interests,  find  that  sub- 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  329 

ordination  almost  military  in  its  strictness  is  needful  to  secure 
efficient  action ;  for  divided  councils  prove  fatal  to  success. 
And  even  in  bodies  of  co-operators,  formed  for  carrying  on 
manufacturing  or  distributing  businesses,  and  not  needing 
that  obedience  to  leaders  which  is  required  where  the  aims 
are  offensive  or  defensive,  it  is  still  found  that  the  adminis- 
trative agency  gains  such  supremacy  that  there  arise  com- 
plaints about  "  the  tyranny  of  organization."  Judge  then 
what  must  happen  when,  instead  of  relatively  small  combina- 
tions, to  which  men  may  belong  or  not  as  they  please,  wre 
have  a  national  combination  in  which  each  citizen  finds 
himself  incorporated,  and  from  which  he  cannot  separate 
himself  without  leaving  the  country.  Judge  what  must 
under  such  conditions  become  the  despotism  of  a  graduated 
and  centralized  officialism,  holding  in  its  hands  the  resources 
of  the  community,  and  having  behind  it  whatever  amount  of 
force  it  finds  requisite  to  carry  out  its  decrees  and  maintain 
wrhat  it  calls  order.  Well  may  Prince  Bismarck  display 
leanings  towards  State-socialism. 

And  then  after  recognizing,  as  they  must  if  they  think 
out  their  scheme,  the  power  possessed  by  the  regulative 
agency  in  the  new  social  system  so  temptingly  pictured,  let 
its  advocates  ask  themselves  to  what  end  this  power  must 
used.  Not  dwelling  exclusively,  as  they  liabitually  do,  on 
the  material  well-being  and  the  mental  gratifications  to  be 
provided  for  them  by  a  beneficent  administration,  let  them 
dwell  a  little  on  the  price  to  be  paid.  The  officials  cannot 
create  the  needful  supplies :  they  can  but  distribute  among 
individuals  that  which  the  individuals  have  joined  to  produce. 
If  the  public  agency  is  required  to  provide  for  them,  it  must 
reciprocally  require  them  to  furnish  the  means.  There  can- 
not be,  as  under  our  existing  system,  agreement  between 
employer  and  employed — this  the  scheme  excludes.  There 
must  in  place  of  it  be  command  by  local  authorities  over 
workers,  and  acceptance  by  the  workers  of  that  which  the 
authorities  assign  to  them.  And  this,  indeed,  is  the  arrange- 


330  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

ment  distinctly,  but  as  it  would  seem  inadvertently,  pointed 
to  by  the  members  of  the  Democratic  Federation.  For  they 
propose  that  production  should  be  carried  on  by  "  agricult- 
ural and  industrial  armies  under  State-control :  "  apparently 
not  remembering  that  armies  pre-suppose  grades  of  officers, 
by  whom  obedience  would  have  to  be  insisted  upon ;  since 
otherwise  neither  order  nor  efficient  work  could  be  ensured. 
So  that  each  would  stand  toward  the  governing  agency  in 
the  relation  of  slave  to  master. 

"  But  the  governing  agency  would  be  a  master  which  he 
and  others  made  and  kept  constantly  in  check ;  and  one 
which  therefore  would  not  control  him  or  others  more  than 
was  needful  for  the  benefit  of  each  and  all." 

To  which  reply  the  first  rejoinder  is  that,  even  if  so,  each 
member  of  the  community  as  an  individual  would  be  a  slave 
to  the  community  as  a  whole.  Such  a  relation  has  habitually 
existed  in  militant  communities,  even  under  quasi-popular 
forms  of  government.  In  ancient  Greece  the  accepted  prin- 
ciple was  that  the  citizen  belonged  neither  to  himself  nor  to 
his  family,  but  belonged  to  his  city — the  city  being  with 
the  Greek  equivalent  to  the  community.  And  this  doctrine, 
proper  to  a  state  of  constant  warfare,  is  a  doctrine  which 
socialism  unawares  re-introduces  into  a  state  intended  to  be 
purely  industrial.  The  services  of  each  will  belong  to  the 
aggregate  of  all ;  and  for  these  services,  such  returns  will  be 
given  as  the  authorities  think  proper.  So  that  even  if  the 
administration  is  of  the  beneficent  kind  intended  to  be  se- 
cured, slavery,  however  inild,  must  be  the  outcome  of  the 
arrangement. 

A  second  rejoinder  is  that  the  administration  will  pres- 
ently become  not  of  the  intended  kind,  and  that  the  slavery 
will  not  be  mild.  The  socialist  speculation  is  vitiated  by  an 
assumption  like  .that  which  vitiates  the  speculations  of  the 
"  practical "  politician.  It  is  assumed  that  officialism  will 
work  as  it  is  intended  to  work,  which  it  never  does.  The 
machinery  of  Communism,  like  existing  social  machinery, 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  331 

lias  to  be  framed  out  of  existing  human  nature ;  and  the  de- 
fects of  existing  human  nature  will  generate  in  the  one  the 
same  evils  as  in  the  other.  The  love  of  power,  the  selfish- 
ness, the  injustice,  the  un truthfulness,  which  often  in  com- 
paratively short  times  bring  private  organizations  to  disaster, 
will  inevitably,  where  their  effects  accumulate  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  work  evils  far  greater  and  less  remediable ; 
since,  vast  and  complex  and  possessed  of  all  the  resources, 
the  administrative  organization  once  developed  and  consoli- 
dated, must  become  irresistible.  And  if  there  needs  proof 
that  the  periodic  exercise  of  electoral  power  would  fail  to 
prevent  this,  it  suffices  to  instance  the  French  Government, 
which,  purely  popular  in  origin,  and  subject  at  short  intervals 
to  popular  judgment,  nevertheless  tramples  on  the  freedom 
of  citizens  to  an  extent  which  the  English  delegates  to  the 
late  Trades  Unions  Congress  say  "  is  a  disgrace  to,  and  an 
anomaly  in,  a  Republican  nation." 

The  final  result  would  be  a  revival  of  despotism.  A  dis- 
ciplined army  of  civil  officials,  like  an  army  of  military  offi- 
cials, gives  supreme  power  to  its  head — a  power  which  has 
often  led  to  usurpation,  as  in  mediaeval  Europe  and  still  more 
in  Japan — nay,  has  thus  so  led  among  our  neighbours,  within 
our  own  times.  The  recent  confessions  of  M.  de  Man  pas 
have  shown  how  readily  a  constitutional  head,  elected  and 
trusted  by  the  whole  people,  may,  with  the  aid  of  a  few  un- 
scrupulous confederates,  paralyze  the  representative  body 
and  make  himself  autocrat.  That  those  who  rose  to  power 
in  a  socialistic  organization  would  not  scruple  to  carry  out 
their  aims  at  all  costs,  we  have  good  reason  for  concluding. 
When  we  find  that  shareholders  who,  sometimes  gaining  but 
often  losing,  have  made  that  railway-system  by  which  na- 
tional prosperity  has  been  so  greatly  increased,  are  spoken  of 
by  the  council  of  the  Democratic  Federation  as  having  "  laid 
hands  "  on  the  means  of  communication,  we  may  infer  that 
those  who  directed  a  socialistic  administration  might  inter- 
pret with  extreme  perversity  the  claims  of  individuals  and 


332  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

classes  under  their  control.  And  when,  further,  we  find 
members  of  this  same  council  urging  that  the  State  should 
take  possession  of  the  railways,  "with  or  without  compen- 
sation," we  may  suspect  that  the  heads  of  the  ideal  society 
desired,  would  be  but  little  deterred  by  considerations  of 
equity  from  pursuing  whatever  policy  they  thought  needful : 
a  policy  which  would  always  be  one  identified  with  their 
own  supremacy.  It  would  need  but  a  war  with  an  adja- 
cent society,  or  some  internal  discontent  demanding  forcible 
suppression,  to  at  once  transform  a  socialistic  administration 
into  a  grinding  tyranny  like  that  of  ancient  Peru ;  under 
which  the  mass  of  the  people,  controlled  by  grades  of  offi- 
cials, and  leading  lives  that  were  inspected  out-of-doors  and 
in-doors,  laboured  for  the  support  of  the  organization  which 
regulated  them,  and  were  left  with  but  a  bare  subsistence  for 
themselves.  And  then  would  be  completely  revived,  under 
a  different  form,  that  regime  of  status — that  system  of  com- 
pulsory co-operation,  the  decaying  tradition  of  which  is 
represented  by  the  old  Toryism,  and  towards  which  the  new 
Toryism  is  carrying  us  back. 

"  But  we  shall  be  on  our  guard  against  all  that — we  shall 
take  precautions  to  ward  off  such  disasters,"  will  doubtless 
say  the  enthusiasts.  Be  they  "practical"  politicians  with 
their  new  regulative  measures,  or  communists  with  their 
schemes  for  re-organizing  labour  their  reply  is  ever  the 
same  : — "  It  is  true  that  plans  of  kindred  nature  have,  from 
unforeseen  causes  or  adverse  accidents,  or  the  misdeeds  of 
those  concerned,  been  brought  to  failure ;  but  this  time  we 
shall  profit  by  past  experiences  and  succeed."  There  seems 
no  getting  people  to  accept  the  truth,  which  nevertheless  is 
conspicuous  enough,  that  the  welfare  of  a  society  and  the 
justice  of  its  arrangements  are  at  bottom  dependent  on  the 
characters  of  its  members  ;  and  that  improvement  in  neither 
can  take  place  without  that  improvement  in  character  which 
results  from  carrying  on  peaceful  industry  under  the  re- 
straints imposed  by  an  orderly  social  life.  The  belief,  not 


THE  COMING  SLAVERY.  333 

only  of  tlie  socialists  but  also  of  those  so-called  Liberals  who 
are  diligently  preparing  the  way  for  them,  is  that  by  due 
skill  an  ill-working  humanity  may  be  framed  into  well- 
working  institutions.  It  is  a  delusion.  The  defective  na- 
tures of  citizens  will  show  themselves  in  the  bad  acting  of 
whatever  social  structure  they  are  arranged  into.  There  is 
no  political  alchemy  by  which  you  can  get  golden  conduct 
out  of  leaden  instincts. 


NOTE. — Two  replies  by  socialists  to  the  foregoing  article 
have  appeared  since  its  publication — Socialism  and  Slavery 
by  H.  M.  llyndman,  and  Herbert  Spencer  on  Socialism  by 
Frank  Fairnian.  Notice  of  them  here  must  be  limited  to 
saying  that,  as  usual  with  antagonists,  they  ascribe  to  me 
opinions  which  I  do  not  hold.  Disapproval  of  socialism  does 
not,  as  Mr.  llyndman  assumes,  necessitate  approval  of  exist- 
ing arrangements.  Many  things  he  reprobates  I  reprobate 
quite  as  much  ;  but  I  dissent  from  his  remedy.  The  gentle- 
man who  writes  under  the  pseudonym  of  "Frank  Fairman," 
reproaches  me  with  having  receded  from  that  sympathetic 
defence  of  the  labouring-classes  which  he  finds  in  Social 
Statics'  but  I  am  quite  unconscious  of  any  such  change  as 
he  alleges.  Looking  with  a  lenient  eye  upon  the  irregulari- 
ties of  those  whose  lives  are  hard,  by  no  means  involves 
tolerance  of  good-for-nothings. 


22 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATOES. 

BE  it  or  be  it  not  true  that  Man  is  shapen  in  iniquity  and 
conceived  in  sin,  it  is  unquestionably  true  that  Government 
is  begotten  of  aggression  and  by  aggression.  In  small  unde- 
veloped societies  where  for  ages  complete  peace  has  con- 
tinued, there  exists  nothing  like  what  we  call  Government : 
no  coercive  agency,  but  mere  honorary  headship,  if  any  head- 
ship at  all.  In  these  exceptional  communities,  unaggressive 
and  from  special  causes  unaggressed  upon,  there  is  so  little 
deviation  from  the  virtues  of  truthfulness,  honesty,  justice, 
and  generosity,  that  nothing  beyond  an  occasional  expression 
of  public  opinion  by  informally-assembled  elders  is  needful.* 
Conversely,  we  find  proofs  that,  at  first  recognized  but 
temporarily  during  leadership  in  war,  the  authority  of  a  chief 
is  permanently  established  by  continuity  of  war  ;  and  grows 
strong  where  successful  war  ends  in  subjection  of  neigh- 
bouring tribes.  And  thence  onwards,  examples  furnished  by 
all  races  put  beyond  doubt  the  truth,  that  the  coercive  power 
of  the  chief,  developing  into  king,  and  king  of  kings  (a 
frequent  title  in  the  ancient  East),  becomes  great  in  propor- 
tion as  conquest  becomes  habitual  and  the  union  of  subdued 
nations  extensive,  f  Comparisons  disclose  a  further  truth 
which  should  be  ever  present  to  us — the  truth  that  the 
aggressiveness  of  the  ruling  power  inside  a  society  increases 
with  its  aggressiveness  outside  the  society.  As,  to  make  an 

*  Political  Institutions,  §§  437,  573.  \  Ibid.,  §§  471-3. 


THE  SINS  OF   LEGISLATORS.  335 

efficient  army,  the  soldiers  must  be  subordinate  to  their  com- 
mander ;  so,  to  make  an  efficient  lighting  community,  must 
the  citizens  be  subordinatj  to  their  government.  They  must 
furnish  recruits  to  the  extent  demanded,  and  yield  up  what- 
ever property  is  required. 

An  obvious  implication  is  that  political  ethics,  originally 
identical  with  the  ethics  of  war,  must  long  remain  akin  to 
them;  and  can  diverge  from  them  only  as  warlike  activities 
and  preparations  become  less.  Current  evidence  shows  this. 
At  present  on  the  Continent,  the  citizen  is  free  only  when 
his  services  as  a  soldier  are  not  demanded ;  and  during  the 
rest  of  his  life  he  is  largely  enslaved  in  supporting  the  mili- 
tary organization.  Even  among  ourselves  a  serious  war 
would,  by  the  necessitated  conscription,  suspend  the  liberties 
of  large  numbers  and  trench  on  the  liberties  of  the  rest,  by 
taking  from  them  through  taxes  whatever  supplies  were 
needed — that  is,  forcing  them  to  labour  so  many  days  more 
for  the  State.  Inevitably  the  established  code  of  conduct  in 
the  dealings  of  Governments  with  citizens,  must  be  allied  to 
their  code  of  conduct  in  their  dealings  with  one  another. 

I  am  not,  under  the  title  of  this  article,  about  to  treat  of 
the  trespasses  and  the  revenges  for  trespasses,  accounts  of 
which  mainly  constitute  history;  nor  to  trace  the  internal 
inequities  which  have  ever  accompanied  the  external  inequi- 
ties. I  do  not  propose  here  to  catalogue  the  crimes  of  irre- 
sponsible legislators ;  beginning  with  that  of  King  Khufu, 
the  stones  of  whose  vast  tomb  were  laid  in  the  bloody  sweat 
of  a  hundred  thousand  slaves  toiling  through  long  years 
under  the  lash  ;  going  on  to  those  committed  by  conquerors, 
Egyptian,  Assyrian,  Persian,  Macedonian,  Roman,  and  the 
rest ;  and  ending  with  those  of  Napoleon,  whose  ambition  to 
set  his  foot  on  the  neck  of  the  civilized  world,  cost  not  less 
than  two  million  lives.*  Nor  do  I  propose  here  to  enumerate 
those  sins  of  responsible  legislators  seen  in  the  long  list  of 

*  Landf  rey.     Sec  also  Study  of  Sociology,  p.  42,  and  Appendix. 


336        THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

laws  made  in  the  interests  of  dominant  classes — a  list  coming 
down  in  our  own  country  to  those  under  which  there  wc-rc 
long  maintained  slavery  and  the  slave-trade,  torturing  nearly 
40,000  negroes  annually  by  close  packing  during  a  tropical 
voyage,  and  killing  a  large  percentage  of  them,  and  ending 
with  the  corn-laws,  by  which,  says  Sir  Erskine  May,  "to 
ensure  high  rents,  it  had  been  decreed  that  multitudes  should 
hunger."  * 

Not,  indeed,  that  a  presentation  of  the  conspicuous  mis- 
deeds of  legislators,  responsible  and  irresponsible,  would  be 
useless.  It  would  have  several  uses — one  of  them  relevant 
to  the  truth  above  pointed  out.  Such  a  presentation  would 
make  clear  how  that  identity  of  political  ethics  with  military 
ethics  which  necessarily  exists  during  primitive  times,  when 
the  army  is  simply  the  mobilized  society  and  the  society  is 
the  quiescent  army,  continues  through  long  stages,  and  even 
now  affects  in  great  degrees  our  law-proceedings  and  our 
daily  lives.  Having,  for  instance,  shown  that  in  numerous 
savage  tribes  the  judicial  function  of  the  chief  does  not  exist, 
or  is  nominal,  and  that  very  generally  during  early  stages  of 
European  civilization,  each  man  had  to  defend  himself  and 
rectify  his  private  wrongs  as  best  he  might — having  shown 
that  in  mediaeval  times  the  right  of  private  war  among 
members  of  the  military  order  was  brought  to  an  end,  not 
because  the  head  ruler  thought  it  his  duty  to  arbitrate,  but 
because  private  wars  interfered  with  the  efficiency  of  his 
army  in  public  wars — having  shown  that  the  administration 
of  justice  displayed  through  subsequent  ages  a  large  amount 
of  its  primitive  nature,  in  trial  by  battle  carried  on  before  the 
king  or  his  deputy  as  umpire,  and  which,  among  ourselves, 
continued  nominally  to  be  an  alternative  form  of  trial  down 
to  1819 ;  it  might  then  be  pointed  out  that  even  now  there 
survives  trial  by  battle  under  another  form :  counsel  being 
the  champions  and  purses  the  weapons.  In  civil  cases,  the 

*  Constitutional  History  of  England,  ii,  p.  617. 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  337 

ruling  agency  cares  scarcely  more  than  of  old  about  recti- 
fying the  wrongs  of  the  injured ;  but,  practically,  its  deputy 
does  little  less  than  enforce  the  rules  of  the  fight :  the  result 
being  less  a  question  of  equity  than  a  question  of  pecuniary 
ability  and  forensic  skill.  Nay,  so  little  concern  for  the 
administration  of  justice  is  shown  by  the  ruling  agency,  that 
when,  by  legal  conflict  carried  on  in  the  presence  of  its 
deputy,  the  combatants  have  been  pecuniarily  bled  even  to 
the  extent  of  producing  prostration,  and  when,  an  appeal 
being  made  by  one  of  them,  the  decision  is  reversed,  the 
beaten  combatant  is  made  to  pay  for  the  blunders  of  the 
deputy,  or  of  a  preceding  deputy  ;  and  not  unfrequently  the 
wronged  man,  who  sought  protection  or  restitution,  is  taken 
out  of  court  pecuniarily  dead. 

Adequately  done,  such  a  portrayal  of  governmental  mis- 
deeds of  commission  and  omission,  proving  that  the  partially- 
surviving  code  of  ethics  arising  in,  and  proper  to,  a  state  of 
war,  still  vitiates  governmental  action,  might  greatly  moderate 
the  hopes  of  those  who  are  anxious  to  extend  governmental 
control.  After  observing  that  along  with  the  still-manifest 
traits  of  that  primitive  political  structure  which  chronic 
militancy  produces,  there  goes  a  still-manifest  survival  of  its 
primitive  principles;  the  reformer  and  the  philanthropist 
might  be  less  sanguine  in  their  anticipations  of  good  from  its 
all-pervading  agency,  and  might  be  more  inclined  to  trust 
agencies  of  a  non-governmental  kind. 

But  leaving  out  the  greater  part  of  the  large  topic  compre- 
hended under  the  title  of  this  article,  I  propose  here  to  deal 
only  with  a  comparatively  small  remaining  part — those  sins 
of  legislators  which  are  not  generated  by  their  personal  am- 
bitions or  class  interests,  but  result  from  lack  of  the  study  by 
which  they  are  morally  bound  to  prepare  themselves. 

A  druggist's  assistant  who,  after  listening  to  the  descrip- 
tion of  pains  which  he  mistakes  for  those  of  colic,  but  which 
are  really  caused  by  inflammation  of  the  caecum,  prescribes  a 


338  THE  MAN   VEfiSUS  THE  STATE. 

sharp  purgative  and  kills  the  patient,  is  found  guilty  of  man- 
slaughter. He  is  not  allowed  to  excuse  himself  on  the  ground 
that  he  did  not  intend  harm  but  hoped  for  good.  The  plea 
that  he  simply  made  a  mistake  in  his  diagnosis  is  not  enter- 
tained. He  is  told  that  he  had  no  right  to  risk  disastrous 
consequences  by  meddling  in  a  matter  concerning  which  his 
knowledge  was  so  inadequate.  The  fact  that  he  was  ignorant 
how  great  was  his  ignorance  is  not  accepted  in  bar  of  judg- 
ment. It  is  tacitly  assumed  tliat  the  experience  common  to 
all  should  have  taught  him  that  even  the  skilled,  and  much 
more  the  unskilled,  make  mistakes  in  the  identification  of 
disorders  and  in  the  appropriate  treatment ;  and  that  having 
disregarded  the  warning  derivable  from  common  experience, 
he  was  answerable  for  the  consequences. 

We  measure  the  responsibilities  of  legislators  for  mischiefs 
they  may  do,  in  a  much  more  lenient  fashion.  In  most 
cases,  so  far  from  thinking  of  them  as  deserving  punishment 
for  causing  disasters  by  laws  ignorantly  enacted,  we  scarcely 
think  of  them  as  deserving  reprobation.  It  is  held  that 
common  experience  should  have  taught  the  druggist's  assist- 
ant, untrained  as  he  is,  not  to  interfere ;  but  it  is  not  held 
that  common  experience  should  have  taught  the  legislator 
not  to  interfere  till  he  has  trained  himself.  Though  multi- 
tudinous facts  are  before  him  in  the  recorded  legislation  of 
our  own  country  and  of  other  countries,  which  should  impress 
on  him  the  immense  evils  caused  by  wrong  treatment,  he  is 
not  condemned  for  disregarding  these  warnings  against  rash 
meddling.  Contrariwise,  it  is  thought  meritorious  in  him 
when — perhaps  lately  from  college,  perhaps  fresh  from  keep- 
ing a  pack  of  hounds  which  made  him  popular  in  his  county, 
perhaps  emerging  from  a  provincial  town  where  he  acquired 
a  fortune,  perhaps  rising  from  the  bar  at  which  he  has  gained 
a  name  as  an  advocate — he  enters  Parliament ;  and  forth- 
with, in  quite  a  light-hearted  way,  begins  to  aid  or  hinder 
this  or  that  means  of  operating  on  the  body  politic.  In  this 
case  there  is  no  occasion  even  to  make  for  him  the  excuse 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  339 

that  he  does  not  know  how  little  he  knows ;  for  the  public  at 
large  agrees  with  him  in  thinking  it  needless  that  he  should 
know  anything  more  than  what  the  debates  on  the  proposed 
measures  tell  him. 

And  yet  the  mischiefs  wrought  by  uninstructed  law- 
making,  enormous  in  their  amount  as  compared  with  those 
caused  by  uninstructed  medical  treatment,  are  conspicuous 
to  all  who  do  but  glance  over  its  history.  The  reader  must 
pardon  me  while  I  recall  a  few  familiar  instances.  Century 
after  century,  statesmen  went  on  enacting  usury  laws  which 
made  worse  the  condition  of  the  debtor — raising  the  rate  of 
interest  "from  five  to  six  when  intending  to  reduce  it  to 
four,"  *  as  under  Louis  XV. ;  and  indirectly  producing  un- 
dreamt of  evils  of  many  kinds,  such  as  preventing  the  re- 
productive use  of  spare  capital,  and  "  burdening  the  small 
proprietors  with  a  multitude  of  perpetual  services."f  So 
too,  the  endeavours  which  in  England  continued  through  five 
hundred  years  to  stop  forestalling,  and  which  in  France,  as 
Arthur  Young  witnessed,  prevented  any  one  from  buying 
"more  than  two  bushels  of  wheat  at  market,":}:  went  on 
generation  after  generation  increasing  the  miseries  and 
mortality  due  to  dearth ;  for,  as  everybody  now  knows,  the 
wholesale  dealer,  who  was  in  the  statute  "  De  Pistoribus " 
.  vituperated  as  "  an  open  oppressor  of  poor  people,"  *  is 
simply  one  whose  function  it  is  to  equalize  the  supply  of 
a  commodity  by  checking  unduly  rapid  consumption.  Of 
kindred  nature  was  the  measure  which,  in  1315,  to  diminish 
the  pressure  of  famine,  prescribed  the  prices  of  foods,  but 
which  was  hastily  repealed  after  it  had  caused  entire  dis- 
appearance of  various  foods  from  the  markets  ;  and  also  such 
measures,  more  continuously  operating,  as  those  which  settled 

*  W.  E.  II.  Lecky,  History  of  Rationalism,  ii,  293-4. 

f  De  Tocqueville,  The  State  of  Society  in  France  before  the  Revolution, 
p.  421. 

f  Young's  Travels,  i.  128-9. 

*  G.  L.  Craik's  History  of  British  Commerce,  i.  134 


340  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

by  magisterial  order  "  the  reasonable  gains  "  of  victuallers.* 
Of  like  spirit  and  followed  by  allied  mischiefs  have  been  the 
many  endeavours  to  fix  wages,  which  began  with  the  Statute 
of  Labourers  under  Edward  III.,  and  ceased  only  sixty  years 
ago  ;  when,  having  long  galvanized  in  Spitalfields  a  decaying 
industry,  and  fostered  there  a  miserable  population,  Lords 
and  Commons  finally  gave  up  fixing  silk-weavers'  earnings 
by  the  decisions  of  magistrates. 

Here  I  imagine  an  impatient  interruption.  "  We  know  all 
that ;  the  story  is  stale.  The  mischiefs  of  interfering  with 
trade  have  been  dinned  in  our  ears  till  we  are  weary ;  and  no 
one  needs  to  be  taught  the  lesson  afresh."  My  first  reply  is 
that  by  the  great  majority  the  lesson  was  never  properly 
learnt  at  all,  and  that  many  of  those  who  did  learn  it  have 
forgotten  it.  For  just  the  same  pleas  which  of  old  were  put 
in  for  these  dictations,  are  again  put  in.  In  the  statute  35  of 
Edward  III.,  which  aimed  to  keep  down  the  price  of  herrings 
(but  was  soon  repealed  because  it  raised  the  price),  it  was 
complained  that  people  "  coming  to  the  fair  ...  do  bargain 
for  herring,  and  every  of  them,  by  malice  and  envy,  increase 
upon  other,  and,  if  one  proffer  forty  shilling,  another  will 
proffer  ten  shillings  more,  and  the  third  sixty  shillings,  and 
so  every  one  surmounteth  other  in  the  bargain."  f  And  now 
"  the  higgling  of  the  market,"  here  condemned  and  ascribed 
"  to  malice  and  envy,"  is  being  again  condemned.  The  evils 
of  competition  have  all  along  been  the  stock  cry  of  the 
Socialists ;  and  the  council  of  the  Democratic  Federation 
denounces  the  carrying  on  of  exchange  under  "  the  control  of 
individual  and  greed  profit."  My  second  reply  is  that  inter- 
ferences with  the  law  of  supply  and  demand,  which  a  genera- 
tion ago  were  admitted  to  be  habitually  mischievous,  are  now 
being  daily  made  by  Acts  of  Parliament  in  new  fields ;  and 
that,  as  I  shall  presently  show,  they  are  in  these  new  fields 


*  Craik,  loc.  cif.,  i.  136-7. 
f  Ibid.,  i.  137. 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  341 

increasing  the  evils  to  be  cured  and  producing  fresh  ones,  as 
of  old  they  did  in  fields  no  longer  intruded  upon. 

Returning  from  this  parenthesis,  I  go  on  to  explain  that 
the  above  Acts  are  named  to  remind  the  reader  that  unin- 
structed  legislators  have  in  past  times  continually  increased 
human  suffering  in  their  endeavours  to  mitigate  it;  and  I 
have  now  to  add  that  if  these  evils,  shown  to  be  legislatively 
intensified  or  produced,  be  multiplied  by  ten  or  more,  a  con- 
ception will  be  formed  of  the  aggregate  evils  caused  by  law- 
making  uuguided  by  social  science.  In  a  paper  read  to  the 
Statistical  Society  in  May,  1873,  Mr.  Janson,  vice-president 
of  the  Law  Society,  stated  that  from  the  Statute  of  Merton 
(20  Henry  III.)  to  the  end  of  1872,  there  had  been  passed 
18,110  public  Acts;  of  which  he  estimated  that  four-fifths 
had  been  w'holly  or  partially  repealed.  He  also  stated  that 
the  number  of  public  Acts  repealed  wholly  or  in  part,  or 
amended,  during  the  three  years  1870-71-72  had  been  3,532, 
of  which  2,759  had  been  totally  repealed.  To  see  whether 
this  state  of  repeal  has  continued,  I  have  referred  to  the 
annually-issued  volumes  of  "The  Public  General  Statutes" 
for  the  last  three  sessions.  Saying  nothing  of  the  numerous 
amended  Acts,  the  result  is  that  in  the  last  three  sessions 
there  have  been  totally  repealed,  separately  or  in  groups, 
650  Acts,  belonging  to  the  present  reign,  besides  many  of  pre- 
ceding reigns.  This,  of  course,  is  greatly  above  the  average 
rate ;  for  there  has  of  late  been  an  active  purgation  of  the 
statute-book.  But  making  every  allowance,  we  must  infer 
that  within  our  own  times,  repeals  have  mounted  some  dis- 
tance into  the  thousands.  Doubtless  a  number  of  them  have 
been  of  laws  that  were  obsolete ;  others  have  been  demanded 
by  changes  of  circumstances  (though  seeing  how  many  of 
them  are  of  quite  recent  Acts,  this  has  not  been  a  large 
cause) ;  others  simply  because  they  were  inoperative ;  and 
others  have  been  consequent  on  the  consolidations  of  numer- 
ous Acts  into  single  Acts.  But  unquestionably  in  multi- 
tudinous cases,  repeals  came  because  the  Acts  had  proved 


342  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

injurious.  "We  talk  glibly  of  such  changes — we  think  of  can- 
celled legislation  with  indifference.  We  forget  that  before 
laws  are  abolished  they  have  generally  been  inflicting  evils 
more  or  less  serious ;  some  for  a  few  years,  some  for  tens  of 
years,  some  for  centuries.  Change  your  vague  idea  of  a  bad 
law  into  a  definite  idea  of  it  as  an  agency  operating  on  people's 
lives,  and  you  see  that  it  means. so  much  of  pain,  so  much  of 
illness,  so  much  of  mortality.  A  vicious  form  of  legal  pro- 
cedure, for  example,  either  enacted  or  tolerated,  entails  on 
suitors,  costs,  or  delays,  or  defeats.  What  do  these  imply  ? 
Loss  of  money,  often  ill-spared ;  great  and  prolonged  anxi- 
ety ;  frequently  consequent  bad  health  ;  unhappiness  of  family 
and  dependents ;  children  stinted  in  food  and  clothing — all 
of  them  miseries  which  bring  after  them  multiplied  remoter 
miseries.  Add  to  which  the  far  more  numerous  cases  of 
those  who,  lacking  the  means  or  the  courage  to  enter  on  law- 
suits, and  therefore  submitting  to  frauds,  are  impoverished ; 
and  have  similarly  to  bear  the  pains  of  body  and  mind  which 
ensue.  Even  to  say  that  a  law  has  been  simply  a  hindrance, 
is  to  say  that  it  has  caused  needless  loss  of  time,  extra  trouble, 
and  additional  worry  ;  and  among  over-burdened  people  extra 
trouble  and  worry  imply,  here  and  there,  physical  and  men- 
tal prostrations,  with  their  entailed  direct  and  indirect  suffer- 
ings. Seeing,  then,  that  bad  legislation  means  injury  to  men's 
lives,  judge  what  must  be  the  total  amount  of  mental  distress, 
physical  pain,  and  raised  mortality,  which  these  thousands  of 
repealed  Acts  of  Parliament  represent !  Fully  to  bring  home 
the  truth  that  law-making  unguided  by  adequate  knowledge 
brings  enormous  evils,  let  me  take  an  instance  which  a  ques- 
tion of  the  day  recalls. 

Already  I  have  hinted  that  interferences  with  the  con- 
nexion between  supply  and  demand,  given  up  in  certain  fields 
after  immense  mischiefs  had  been  done  during  many  centuries, 
are  now  taking  place  in  other  fields.  This  connexion  is  sup- 
posed to  hold  only  where  it  has  been  proved  to  hold  by  the 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  343 

evils  of  disregarding  it :  so  feeble  is  men's  belief  in  it.  There 
appears  no  suspicion  that  in  cases  where  it  seems  to  fail, 
natural  causation  has  been  traversed  by  artificial  hindrances. 
And  yet  in  the  case  to  which  I  now  refer — that  of  the  supply 
of  houses  for  the  poor — it  needs  but  to  ask  what  laws  have 
been  doing  for  a  long  time  past,  to  see  that  the  terrible  evils 
complained  of  are  mostly  law-made. 

A  generation  ago  discussion  was  taking  place  concerning 
the  inadequacy  and  badness  of  industrial  dwellings,  and  I  had 
occasion  to  deal  with  the  question.  Here  is  a  passage  then 
written : — 

' '  An  architect  and  surveyor  describes  it  [the  Building  Act]  as  hav- 
ing worked  after  the  following  manner.  In  those  districts  of  London 
consisting  of  inferior  houses  built  in  that  unsubstantial  fashion  which 
the  New  Building  Act  was  to  mend,  there  obtains  an  average  rent, 
sufficiently  remunerative  to  landlords  whose  houses  were  run  up  eco- 
nomically before  the  New  Building  Act  passed.  This  existing  average 
rent  fixes  the  rent  that  must  be  charged  in  these  districts  for  new 
houses  of  the  same  accommodation — that  is  the  same  number  of  rooms, 
for  the  people  they  are  built  for  do  not  appreciate  the  extra  safety  of 
living  within  walls  strengthened  with  hoop-iron  bond.  Now  it  turns 
out  upon  trial,  that  houses  built  in  accordance  with  the  present 
regulations,  and  let  at  this  established  rate,  bring  in  nothing  like  a 
reasonable  return.  Builders  have  consequently  confined  themselves  to 
erecting  houses  in  better  districts  (where  the  possibility  of  a  profitable 
competition  with  pre-existing  houses  shows  that  those  pre-existing 
houses  were  tolerably  substantial),  and  have  ceased  to  erect  dwellings 
for  the  masses,  except  in  the  suburbs  where  no  pressing  sanitary  evils 
exist.  Meanwhile,  in  the  inferior  districts  above  described,  has  resulted 
an  increase  of  overcrowding — half-a-dozen  families  in  a  house,  a  score 
lodgers  to  a  room.  Nay,  more  than  this  has  resulted.  That  state  of 
miserable  dilapidation  into  which  these  abodes  of  the  poor  are  allowed 
to  fall,  is  due  to  the  absence  of  competition  from  new  houses.  Land- 
lords do  not  find  their  tenants  tempted  away  by  the  offer  of  better 
accommodation.  Repairs,  being  unnecessary  for  securing  the  largest 

amount  of  profit,  are  not  made In  fact  for  a  large  percentage 

of  the  very  horrors  which  our  sanitary  agitators  are  trying  to  cure  by 
law,  we  have  to  thank  previous  agitators  of  the  same  school  ! " — Social 
Statics,  p.  384  (edition  of  1851). 


344  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

These  were  not  the  only  law-made  causes  of  such  evils.  As 
shown  in  the  following  further  passage,  sundry  others  were 
recognized  : — 

"Writing  before  the  repeal  of  the  brick  duty,  the  Builder  says  : — 
'  It  is  supposed  that  one-fourth  of  the  cost  of  a  dwelling  which  lets  for 
2s.  Qd.  or  3s.  a  week  is  caused  by  the  expense  of  the  title-deeds  and  the 
tax  on  wood  and  bricks  used  in  its  construction.  Of  course,  the  owner 
of  such  property  must  be  remunerated,  and  he  therefore  charges  l$d. 
or  Qd.  a  week  to  cover  these  burdens.'  Mr.  C.  Gatliff,  secretary  to  the 
Society  for  Improving  the  Dwellings  of  the  Working  Classes,  describ- 
ing the  effect  of  the  window-tax,  says  : — 'They  are  now  paying  upon 
their  institution  in  St.  Pancras  the  sum  of  £162  16s.  in  window-duties, 
or  1  per  cent,  per  annum  upon  the  original  outlay.  The  average  rental 
paid  by  the  Society's  tenants  is  5s.  Qd.  per  week,  and  the  window-duty 
deducts  from  this  7±d.  per  week.'" — Times,  January  31,  1850. — Social 
Statics,  p.  385  (edition  of  1851). 

Neither  is  this  all  the  evidence  which  the  press  of  those  days 
afforded.  There  was  published  in  The  Times  of  December  7, 
1850  (too  late  to  be  used  in  the  above-named  work,  which  I 
issued  in  the  last  week  of  1850),  a  letter  dated  from  the 
Reform  Club,  and  signed  "  Architect,"  which  contained  the 
following  passages : — 

"  Lord  Kinnaird  recommends  in  your  paper  of  yesterday  the  con- 
struction of  model  lodging-houses  by  throwing  two  or  three  houses  into 
one. 

"Allow  me  to  suggest  to  his  Lordship,  and  to  his  friend  Lord  Ash- 
ley to  whom  he  refers,  that  if, — 

"  1.  The  window  tax  were  repealed, 

"  2.  The  Building  Act  repealed  (excepting  the  clauses  enacting  that 

party  and  external  walls  shall  be  fireproof), 
"  3.  The  timber  duties  either  equalized  or  repealed,  and, 
"4.  An  Act  passed  to  facilitate  the  transfer  of  property, 
"There  would  be  no  more  necessity  for  model  lodging-houses  than 
there  is  for  model  ships,  model  cotton-mills,  or  model  steam-engines. 
"The  first  limits  the  poor  man's  house  to  seven  windows, 
"  The  second  limits  the  size  of  the  poor  man's  house  to  25  feet  by  18 
(about  the  size  of  a  gentleman's  dining-room),  into  which  space  the 
builder  has  to  cram  a  staircase,  an  entrance  passage,  a  parlour,  and  a 
kitchen  (walls  and  partitions  included). 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  345 

"The third  induces  the  builder  to  erect  the  poor  man's  house  of 
timber  unfit  for  building  purposes,  the  duty  on  the  good  material  (Bal- 
tic) being  fifteen  times  more  than  the  duty  on  the  bad  or  injurious  article 
(Canadian).  The  Government,  even,  exclude  the  latter  from  all  their 
contracts. 

' '  The  fourth  would  have  considerable  influence  upon  the  present 
miserable  state  of  the  dwellings  of  the  poor.  Small  freeholds  might 
then  be  transferred  as  easily  as  leaseholds.  The  effect  of  building 
leases  has  been  a  direct  inducement  to  bad  building." 

To  guard  against  mis-statements  or  over-statements,  I 
have  taken  the  precaution  to  consult  a  large  East-end  builder 
and  contractor  of  forty  years'  experience,  Mr.  C.  Forrest, 
Museum  Works,  17,  Victoria  Park  Square,  Bethnal  Green, 
who,  being  clmchwarden,  member  of  the  vestry,  and  of  the 
board  of  guardians,  adds  extensive  knowledge  of  local  public 
affairs  to  his  extensive  knowledge  of  the  building  business. 
Mr.  Forrest,  who  authorizes  me  to  give  his  name,  verifies  the 
foregoing  statements,  with  the  exception  of  one  which  he 
strengthens.  He  says  that  "  Architect "  understates  the  evil 
entailed  by  the  definition  of  "  a  fourth-rate  house;"  since  the 
dimensions  are  much  less  than  those  he  gives  (perhaps  in 
conformity  with  the  provisions  of  a  more  recent  Building 
Act).  Mr.  Forrest  has  done  more  than  this.  Besides  illus- 
trating the  bad  effects  of  great  increase  in  ground-rents  (in 
sixty  years  from  £1  to  £8  10s.  for  a  fourth-rate  house) 
which,  joined  with  other  causes,  had  obliged  him  to  abandon 
plans  for  industrial  dwellings  he  had  intended  to  build — 
besides  agreeing  with  "Architect"  that  this  evil  has  been 
greatly  increased  by  the  difficulties  of  land  transfer  due  to 
the  law-established  system  of  trusts  and  entails;  he  pointed 
out  that  a  further  penalty  on  the  building  of  small  houses 
is  inflicted  by  additions  to  local  burdens  ("  prohibitory  im- 
posts "  he  called  them) :  one  of  the  instances  he  named 
being  that  to  the  cost  of  each  new  house  has  to  be  added  the 
cost  of  pavement,  roadway,  and  sewerage,  which  is  charged 
according  to  length  of  frontage,  and  which,  consequently, 


346  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

bears  a  far  larger  ratio  to  the  value  of  a  small  house  than  to 
the  value  of  a  large  one. 

From  these  law-produced  mischiefs,  which  were  great  a 
generation  ago,  and  have  since  been  increasing,  let  us  pass  to 
more  recent  law-produced  mischiefs.  The  misery,  the  disease, 
the  mortality,  in  "  rookeries,"  made  continually  worse  by  arti- 
ficial impediments  to  the  increase  of  fourth-rate  houses,  and 
by  the  necessitated  greater  crowding  of  those  which  existed, 
having  become  a  scandal,  Government  was  invoked  to  remove 
the  evil.  It  responded  by  Artisans'  Dwellings  Acts ;  giving 
to  local  authorities  powers  to  pull  down  bad  houses  and  pro- 
vide for  the  building  of  good  ones.  "What  have  been  the 
results  ?  A  summary  of  the  operations  of  the  Metropolitan 
Board  of  Works,  dated  December  21,  1883,  shows  that  up  to 
last  September  it  had,  at  a  cost  of  a  million  and  a  quarter  to 
ratepayers,  unhoused  21,000  persons  and  provided  houses  for 
12,000 — the  remaining  9,000  to  be  hereafter  provided  for, 
being,  meanwhile,  left  houseless.  This  is  not  all.  Another 
local  lieutenant  of  the  Government,  the  Commission  of  Sewers 
for  the  City,  working  on  the  same  lines,  has,  under  legislative 
compulsion,  pulled  down  in  Golden  Lane  and  Petticoat 
Square,  masses  of  condemned  small  houses,  which,  together, 
accommodated  1,734  poor  people;  and  of  the  spaces  thus 
cleared  five  years  ago,  one  has,  by  State  authority,  been 
sold  for  a  railway  station,  and  the  other  is  only  now  being 
covered  with  industrial  dwellings  which  will  eventually 
accommodate  one-half  of  the  expelled  population  :  the  result 
up  to  the  present  time  being  that,  added  to  those  displaced 
by  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  "Works,  these  1,734  displaced 
five  years  ago,  form  a  total  of  nearly  11,000  artificially  made 
homeless,  who  have  had  to  find  corners  for  themselves  in 
miserable  places  that  were  already  overflowing ! 

See  then  what  legislation  has  done.  By  ill-imposed  taxes, 
raising  the  prices  of  bricks  and  timber,  it  added  to  the  costs 
of  houses ;  and  prompted,  for  economy's  sake,  the  use  of  bad 
materials  in  scanty  quantities.  To  check  the  consequent 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  347 

production  of  wretched  dwellings,  it  established  regulations 
which,  in  mediaeval  fashion,  dictated  the  quality  of  the  com- 
modity produced  :  there  being  no  perception  that  by  insisting 
on  a  higher  quality  and  therefore  higher  price,  it  would  limit 
the  demand  and  eventually  diminish  the  supply.  By  addi- 
tional local  burdens,  legislation  has  of  late  still  further 
hindered  the  building  of  small  houses.  Finally,  having,  by 
successive  measures,  produced  first  bad  houses  and  then  a 
deficiency  of  better  ones,  it  has  at  length  provided  for  the 
artificially-increased  overflow  of  poor  people  by  diminishing 
the  house-capacity  which  already  could  not  contain  them  ! 

Where  then  lies  the  blame  for  the  miseries  of  the  East- 
end  ?  Against  whom  should  be  raised  ''  The  bitter  cry  of 
outcast  London  ? "  * 

The  German  anthropologist  Bastian,  tells  us  that  a  sick 
native  of  Guinea  who  causes  the  fetish  to  lie  by  not  recover- 


*  More  recently,  Glasgow  has  furnished  a  gigantic  illustration  of  the 
disasters  which  result  from  the  socialistic  meddlings  of  municipal  bodies. 
The  particulars  may  be  found  in  proceedings  of  the  Glasgow  Town  Council, 
reported  in  the  Glasgow  Herald  for  September  11, 1891.  In  the  course  of 
the  debate  it  was  said  that  the  Glasgow  Improvement  Trust  had  for  years 
been  pursuing  a  "  course  of  blundering,"  and  had  landed  the  corporation 
"in  a  quagmire."  Out  of  some  £2,000,000  taken  from  the  ratepayers  to 
buy  and  clear  88  acres  of  bad  house  property,  £1,000,000  had  been  got  back 
by  sale  of  cleared  lands.  But  the  property  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the 
Corporation,  mostly  vacant  land,  has,  by  successive  valuations  in  1880, 
1884,  and  1891,  been  shown  to  have  gradually  depreciated  to  the  extent  of 
£320,000 — an  admitted  depreciation,  believed  to  be  far  less-than  the  actual 
depreciation.  Moreover,  model-blocks  built  by  the  Improvement  Trust, 
have  proved  to  be  not  only  financial  failures,  but  also  failures  philanthrop- 
ically  considered.  One  which  cost  £10,000,  and  in  the  first  year  yielded 
5  per  cent.,  brought  in  the  second  year  4  per  cent.,  and  in  the  third  2J  per 
cent.  Another  which  cost  £11,000  yields  only  3  percent.  And,  as  is  thus 
implied,  these  dwellings,  instead  of  being  in  demand,  have  a  decreasing 
number  of  tenants — a  decreasing  number,  too,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  clearing  of  so  large  an  area  of  low-class  dwellings  has  increased 
the  pressure  of  the  working  population,  made  the  over-crowding  greater 
in  other  parts  of  the  city,  and  intensified  the  sanitary  evils  which  were  to 


348  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

ing  is  strangled ;  *  and  we  may  reasonably  suppose  that  among 
the  Guinea  people,  any  one  audacious  enough  to  call  in 
question  the  power  of  the  fetish  would  be  promptly  sacrificed. 
In  days  when  Governmental  authority  was  enforced  by 
strong  measures,  there  was  a  kindred  danger  in  saying  any- 
thing disrespectful  of  the  political  fetish.  Nowadays,  how- 
ever, the  worst  punishment  to  be  looked  for  by  one  who 
questions  its  omnipotence,  is  that  he  will  be  reviled  as  a 
reactionary  who  talks  laissez-faire.  That  any  facts  he  may 
bring  forward  will  appreciably  decrease  the  established  faith 
is  not  to  be  expected ;  for  we  are  daily  shown  that  this  faith 
is  proof  against  all  adverse  evidence.  Let  us  contemplate  a 
small  part  of  that  vast  mass  of  it  which  passes  unheeded. 

"  A  Government-office  is  like  an  inverted  filter ;  you  send 
in  accounts  clear  and  they  come  out  muddy."     Such  was  the 


be  mitigated.  Commenting  on  the  results,  as  they  had  become  manifest 
at  the  close  of  1888,  Mr.  Honeyman,  President  of  the  Social  Economy  Sec- 
tion of  the  Glasgow  Philosophical  Society,  said  that  the  model-building 
put  up  by  the  Improvement  Trust,  was  one  ''which  no  sane  builder  would 
dream  of  imitating,  because  it  would  not  pay,"  and  that  they  had  "  put 
anything  like  fair  competition  entirely  out  of  the  question : "  "driving  the 
ordinary  builder  from  the  field."  He  also  pointed  out  that  the  building 
regulations  and  restrictions  imposed  by  the  Improvement  Trust,  tended  "  to 
keep  the  land  belonging  to  the  Corporation  vacant,  and  hinder  the  erection 
of  dwellings  of  the  humblest  class."  In  like  manner,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Kyrle  Society,  the  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow  pointed  out  that  when,  with 
philanthropic  motives,  they  built  houses  for  the  working-people  at  prices 
which  would  not  pay  the  ordinary  builder,  then  "  immediately  the  whole  of 
those  builders  who  had  hitherto  supplied  the  wants  of  the  working  classes 
would  stop,  and  philanthropy  would  require  to  take  the  whole  burden  of 
the  provision  on  itself." 

To  achieve  all  these  failures  and  produce  all  these  evils,  many  thou- 
sands of  hard-working  ratepayers,  who  have  difficulty  in  making  both  ends 
meet,  have  been  taxed  and  pinched  and  distressed.  See,  then,  the  enor- 
mous evils  that  follow  in  the  train  of  the  baseless  belief  in  the  unlimited 
power  of  a  majority — the  miserable  superstition  that  a  body  elected  by  the 
greater  number  of  citizens  has  the  right  to  take  from  citizens  at  large  any 
amount  of  money  for  any  purpose  it  pleases! 

*  Mensch,  iii.  p.  225. 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  349 

comparison  I  heard  made  many  years  ago  by  the  late  Sir 
Charles  Fox,  who,  in  the  conduct  of  his  business,  had  con- 
siderable experience  of  public  departments.  That  his  opinion 
was  not  a  singular  one,  though  his  comparison  was,  all  men 
know.  Exposures  by  the  press  and  criticisms  in  Parliament, 
leave  no  one  in  ignorance  of  the  vices  of  red-tape  routine. 
Its  delays,  perpetually  complained  of,  and  which  in  the  time 
of  Mr.  Fox  Maule  went  to  the  extent  that  "  the  commissions 
of  officers  in  the  army  "  were  generally  "  about  two  years  in 
arrear,"  is  afresh  illustrated  by  the  issue  of  the  first  volume 
of  the  detailed  census  of  1881,  more  than  two  years  after  the 
information  was  collected.  If  we  seek  explanations  of  such 
delays,  we  find  one  origin  to  be  a  scarcely  credible  confusion. 
In  the  case  of  the  census  returns,  the  Registrar-General  tells 
us  that  "  the  difficulty  consists  not  merely  in  the  vast  multi- 
tude of  different  areas  that  have  to  be  taken  into  account,  but 
still  more  in  the  bewildering  complexity  of  their  boundaries : " 
there  being  39,000  administrative  areas  of  22  different  kinds 
which  overlap  one  another — hundreds,  parishes,  boroughs, 
wards,  petty  sessional  divisions,  lieutenancy  divisions,  urban 
and  rural  sanitary  districts,  dioceses,  registration  districts,  &c. 
And  then,  as  Mr.  Rathbone,  M.P.,  points  out,*  these  many 
superposed  sets  of  areas  with  intersecting  boundaries,  have 
their  respective  governing  bodies  with  authorities  running 
into  one  another's  districts.  Does  any  one  ask  why  for  each 
additional  administration  Parliament  has  established  a  fresh 
set  of  divisions?  The  reply  which  suggests  itself  is — To 
preserve  consistency  of  method.  For  this  organized  confu- 
sion corresponds  completely  with  that  organized  confusion 
which  Parliament  each  year  increases  by  throwing  on  to  the 
heap  of  its  old  Acts  a  hundred  new  Acts,  the  provisions  of 
which  traverse  and  qualify  in  all  kinds  of  ways  the  provisions 
of  multitudinous  Acts  on  to  which  they  are  thrown  :  the  onus 
of  settling  what  is  the  law  being  left  to  private  persons,  who 

*  The  Nineteenth  Century.  February,  1883. 
23 


350  THE  MAN  VERSUS,  THE  STATE. 

lose  their  property  in  getting  judges'  interpretations.  And 
again,  this  system  of  putting  networks  of  districts  over  other 
networks,  with  their  conflicting  authorities,  is  quite  con- 
sistent with  the  metiiod  under  which  the  reader  of  the  Pub- 
lic Health  Act  of  1872,  who  wishes  to  know  what  are  the 
powers  exercised  over  him,  is  referred  to  26  preceding  Acts 
of  several  classes  and  numerous  dates.*  So,  too,  with  ad- 
ministrative inertia^,  Continually  there  occur  cases  showing 
the  resistance  of  officialism  to  improvements ;  as  by  the  Ad- 
miralty when  use  of  the  electric  telegraph  was  proposed,  and 
the  reply  was — "  We  have  a  very  good  semaphore  system  ; " 
or  as  by  the  Post  Office,  which  the  late  Sir  Charles  Siemens 
years  ago  said  had  obstructed  the  employment  of  improved 
methods  of  telegraphing  and  which  since  then  has  impeded 
the  use  of  the  telephone.  Other  cases  akin  to  the  case  of 
industrial  dwellings,  now  and  then  show  how  the  State  with 
one  hand  increases  evils  which  with  the  other  hand  it  tries  to 
diminish ;  as  when  it  puts  a  duty  on  fire-insurances  and  then 
makes  regulations  for  the  better  putting  out  of  fires :  dictat- 
ing, too,  certain  modes  of  construction  which,  as  Captain 
Shaw  shows,  entail  additional  dangers. f  Again,  the  absurdi- 
ties of  official  routine,  rigid  where  it  need  not  be  and  lax 
where  it  should  be  rigid,  occasionally  become  glaring  enough 
to  cause  scandals ;  as  when  a  secret  State-document  of  im- 
portance, put  into  the  hands  of  an  ill-paid  copying-clerk  who 
was  not  even  in  permanent  Government  employ,  was  made 
public  by  him ;  or  as  \vhen  the  mode  of  making  the  Moor- 
som  fuse,  which  was  kept  secret  even  from  our  highest  artil- 
lery officers,  was  taught  to  them  by  the  Russians,  who  had 
been  allowed  to  learn  it ;  or  as  when  a  diagram  showing  the 
"  distances  at  which  British  and  foreign  iron-clads  could  be 

*  "The  Statistics  of  Legislation."  By  F.  H.  Janson,  Esq.,  F.L.S.,  Vice- 
president  of  the  Incorporated  Law  Society.  [Read  before  the  Statistical 
Society,  May,  1873.] 

f  Fire  Surveys;  or,  a  Summary  of  the  Principles  to  be  observed  in 
Estimating  the  Risk  of  Buildings. 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  351 

perforated  by  our  large  guns,"  communicated  by  an  enter- 
prising attache  to  his  own  Government,  then  became  known 
"  to  all  the  Governments  of  Europe,"  while  English  officers 
remained  ignorant  of  the  facts.*  So.  too,  with  State-super- 
vision. Guaranteeing  of  quality  by  inspection  has  been 
shown,  in  the  hall-marking  of  silver,  to  be  superfluous,  while 
the  silver  trade  has  been  decreased  by  it ;  f  and  in  other 
cases  it  has  lowered  the  quality  by  establishing  a  standard 
which  it  is  useless  to  exceed :  instance  the  case  of  the  Cork 
butter-market,  where  the  higher  kinds  are  disadvantaged 
in  not  adequately  profiting  by  their  better  repute ;  \  or,  in- 
stance the  case  of  herring-branding  (now  optional),  the  effect 
of  which  is  to  put  the  many  inferior  curers  who  just  reach 
the  level  of  official  approval,  on  a  par  with  the  few  better 
ones  who  rise  above  it,  and  so  to  discourage  these.  But  such 
lessons  pass  unlearned.  Even  where  the  failure  of  inspection 
is  most  glaring,  no  notice  is  taken  of  it ;  as  instance  the  ter- 
rible catastrophe  by  which  a  train  full  of  people  was  de- 
stroyed along  with  the  Tay  bridge.  Countless  denunciations, 
loud  and  unsparing,  were  vented  against  engineer  and  con- 
tractor ;  but  little,  if  anything,  was  said  about  the  Govern- 
ment officer  from  whom  the  bridge  received  State-approval. 
So,  too,  with  prevention  of  disease.  It  matters  not  that 
Tinder  the  management  or  dictation  of  State-agents  some  of 
the  worst  evils  occur ;  as  when  the  lives  of  87  wives  and  chil- 
dren of  soldiers  are  sacrificed  in  the  ship  Accrington ;  *  or 
as  when  typhoid  fever  and  diphtheria  are  diffused  by  a  State- 
ordered  drainage  system,  as  in  Edinburgh ;  |  or  as  \vhen 

*  See  The  Times,  October  6,  1874,  where  other  instances  are  given. 
f  Sir  Thomas  Farrer,  The  State  in  its  Relation  to  Trade,  p.  147. 

i  Ib  id.,  p.  149. 

*  Hansard,  vol.  clvi.  p.  718,  and  vol.  clviii.  p.  4464. 

5  Letter  of  an  Edinburgh  M.D.  in  The  Times  of  17th  January,  1876,  veri- 
fying other  testimonies ;  one  of  which  I  had  previously  cited  concerning 
Windsor,  where,  as  in  Edinburgh,  there  was  absolutely  no  typhoid  in  the 
undraincd  parts,  while  it  was  very  fatal  in  the  drained  parts. — Study  of 
Sociology,  chap,  i.,  notes. 


352  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE.  . 

officially-enforced  sanitary  appliances,  ever  getting  out  of 
order,  increase  the  evib  they  were  to  decrease.*  Masses  of 
such  evidence  leave  unabated  the  confidence  with  which  sani- 
tary inspection  is  invoked — invoked,  indeed,  more  than  ever ; 
as  is  shown  in  the  recent  suggestion  that  all  public  schools 
should  be  under  the  supervision  of  health-officers.  Nay,  even 
when  the  State  has  manifestly  caused  the  mischief  complained 
of,  faith  in  its  beneficent  agency  is  not  at  all  diminished ;  as 
we  see  in  the  fact  that,  having  a  generation  ago  authorized, 
or  rather  required,  towns  to  establish  drainage  systems  which 
delivered  sewage  into  the  rivers,  and  having  thus  polluted 
the  sources  of  water-supply,  an  outcry  was  raised  against  the 
water-companies  for  the  impurities  of  their  water — an  outcry 
which  continued  after  these  towns  had  been  compelled,  at 
vast  extra  cost,  to  revolutionize  their  drainage  systems.  And 
now,  as  the  only  remedy,  there  follows  the  demand  that  the 
State,  by  its  local  proxies,  shall  undertake  the  whole  business. 
The  State's  misdoings  become,  as  in  the  case  of  industrial 
dwellings,  reasons  for  praying  it  to  do  more  ! 

This  worship  of  the  legislature  is,  in  one  respect,  indeed, 
less  excusable  than  the  fetish-worship  to  which  I  have  tacitly 
compared  it.  The  savage  has  the  defence  that  his  fetish  is 
silent — does  not  confess  its  inability.  But  the  civilized  man 
persists  in  ascribing  to  this  idol  made  with  his  own  hands, 
powers  which  in  one  way  or  other  it  confesses  it  has  not  got. 
I  do  not  mean  merely  that  the  debates  daily  tell  us  of  legis- 
lative measures  which  have  done  evil  instead  of  good ;  nor 
do  I  mean  merely  that  the  thousands  of  Acts  of  Parliament 
which  repeal  preceding  Acts,  are  so  many  tacit  admissions  of 
failure.  Neither  do  I  refer  only  to  such  quasi-governmental 
confessions  as  that  contained  in  the  report  of  the  Poor  Law 
Commissioners,  who  said  that — "  We  find,  on  the  one  hand, 

*  I  say  this  partly  from  personal  knowledge ;  having  now  before  me 
memoranda  made  25  years  ago  concerning  such  results  produced  under  my 
own  observation.  Verifying  facts  have  recently  been  given  by  Sir  Richard 
Cross  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  for  January,  1884,  p.  155. 


SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  353 

that  there  is  scarcely  one  statute  connected  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  public  relief  which  has  produced  the  effect  de- 
signed by  the  legislature,  and  that  the  majority  of  them  have 
created  new  evils,  and  aggravated  those  which  they  were  in- 
tended to  prevent."  *  I  refer  rather  to  confessions  made  by 
statesmen  and  by  State  departments.  Here,  for  example,  in 
a  memorial  addressed  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  adopted  by  a 
highly-influential  meeting  held  under  the  chairmanship  of  the 
late  Lord  Lyttelton,  I  read  : — 

"We,  the  undersigned,  Peers,  Members  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
Ratepayers,  and  Inhabitants  of  the  Metropolis,  feeling  strongly  the 
truth  and  force  of  your  statement  made  in  the  House  of  Commons,  in 
1866,  that,  '  there  is  still  a  lamentable  and  deplorable  state  of  our  whole 
arrangements  with  regard  to  public  works — vacillation,  uncertainty, 
costliness,  extravagance,  meanness,  and  all  the  conflicting  vices  that 
could  be  enumerated,  are  united  in  our  present  system,'  "  &c.,  &c.f 

Here,  again,  is  an  example  furnished  by  a  recent  minute  of 
the  Board  of  Trade  (November,  1883),  in  which  it  is  said  that 
since  "  the  Shipwreck  Committee  of  1836  scarcely  a  session 
has  passed  without  some  Act  being  passed  or  some  step  be- 
ing taken  by  the  legislature  or  the  Government  with  this  ob- 
ject "  [prevention  of  shipwrecks]  ;  and  that  "  the  multiplicity 
of  statutes,  which  were  all  consolidated  into  one  Act  in  1854, 
has  again  become  a  scandal  and  a  reproach  : "  each  measure 
being  passed  because  previous  ones  had  failed.  And  then 
comes  presently  the  confession  that  "  the  loss  of  life  and  of 
ships  has  been  greater  since  1876  than  it  ever  was  before." 
Meanwhile,  the  cost  of  administration  has  been  raised  from 
£17,000  a  year  to  £73,000  a  year. 

*  Sir  G.  Xicholl's  History  of  the  English  Poor  Law,  ii.  p.  252. 

t  See  The  Times,  March  31,  1873. 

$  In  these  paragraphs  are  contained  just  a  few  additional  examples. 
Numbers  which  I  have  before  given  in  books  and  essays,  will  be  found  in 
Social  Statics  (1851) ;  "  Over-Legislation  "  (1853) ;  "  Representative  Govern- 
ment" (1857);  "Specialized  Administration"  (1871);  Study  of  Sociology 
(1873),  and  Postscript  to  ditto  (1880) ;  besides  cases  in  smaller  essays. 


354  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

^ 

It  is  surprising  how,  spite  of  better  knowledge,  the  imagi- 
nation is  excited  by  artificial  appliances  used  in  particular 
ways.  We  see  it  all  through  human  history,  from  the  war- 
paint with  which  the  savage  frightens  his  adversary,  down 
through  religious  ceremonies  and  regal  processions,  to  the 
robes  of  a  Speaker  and  the  wand  of  an  oflicially-dressed 
usher.  I  remember  a  child  who,  able  to  look  with  tolerable 
composure  on  a  horrible  cadaverous  mask  while  it  was  held 
in  the  hand,  ran  away  shrieking  when  his  father  put  it  on.  A 
kindred  change  of  feeling  comes  over  constituencies  when, 
from  boroughs  and  counties,  their  members  pass  to  the  Legis- 
lative Chamber.  While  before  them  as  candidates,  they  are, 
by  one  or  other  party,  jeered  at,  lampooned,  "  heckled,"  and 
in  all  ways  treated  with  utter  disrespect.  But  as  soon  as  they 
assemble  at  Westminster,  those  against  whom  taunts  and 
invectives,  charges  of  incompetence  and  folly,  had  been 
showered  from  press  and  platform,  excite  unlimited  faith. 
Judging  from  the  prayers  made  to  them,  there  is  nothing 
which  their  wisdom  and  their  power  cannot  compass. 

The  reply  to  all  this  will  doubtless  be  that  nothing  better 
than  guidance  by  "  collective  wisdom  "  can  be  had — that  the 
select  men  of  the  nation,  led  by  a  re-selected  few,  bring  their 
best  powers,  enlightened  by  all  the  knowledge  of  the  time, 
to  bear  on  the  matters  before  them.  "What  more  would 
you  have  ? "  will  be  the  question  asked  by  most. 

My  answer  is  that  this  best  knowledge  of  the  time  with 
which  legislators*  are  said  to  come  prepared  for  their  duties  is 
a  knowledge  of  which  the  greater  part  is  obviously  irrelevant, 
and  that  they  are  blameworthy  for  not  seeing  what  is  the 
relevant  knowledge.  No  amount  of  the  linguistic  acquire- 
ments by  which  many  of  them  are  distinguished  will  help 
their  judgments  in  the  least ;  nor  will  they  be  appreciably 
helped  by  the  literatures  these  acquirements  open  to  them. 
Political  experiences  and  speculations  coming  from  small 
ancient  societies,  through  philosophers  who  assume  that  war 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  355 

is  tlie  normal  state,  that  slavery  is  alike  needful  and  just, 
and  that  women  must  remain  in  perpetual  tutelage,  can  yield 
them  but  small  aid  in  judging  how  Acts  of  Parliament  will 
work  in  great  nations  of  modern  types.  They  may  ponder 
on  the  doings  of  all  the  great  men  by  whom,  according  to  the 
Carlylean  theory,  society  is  framed,  and  they  may  spend  years 
over  those  accounts  of  international  conflicts,  and  treacheries, 
and  intrigues,  and  treaties,  which  fill  historical  works,  with- 
out being  much  nearer  understanding  the  how  and  the  why 
of  social  structures  and  actions,  and  the  ways  in  which  laws 
affect  them.  Nor  does  such  information  as  is  picked  up  at 
the  factory,  on  'Change,  or  in  the  justice  room,  go  far  towards 
the  required  preparation. 

That  which  is  really  needed  is  a  systematic  study  of 
natural  causation  as  displayed  among  human  beings  socially 
aggregated.  Though  a  distinct  consciousness  of  causation  is 
the  last  trait  which  intellectual  progress  brings — though  with 
the  savage  even  a  simple  mechanical  cause  is  not  conceived 
as  such — though  even  among  the  Greeks  the  flight  of  a  spear 
was  thought  of  as  guided  by  a  god — though  from  their  times 
down  almost  to  our  own,  epidemics  have  been  habitually 
regarded  as  of  supernatural  origin — and  though  among  social 
phenomena,  the  most  complex  of  all,  causal  relations  may  be 
expected  to  continue  longest  unrecognized  ;  yet  in  cur  days, 
the  existence  of  such  causal  relations  has  become  clear  enough 
to  force  on  all  who  think,  the  inference  that  before  meddling 
with  them  they  should  be  diligently  studied.  The  mere 
facts,  now  familiar,  that  there  is  a  connexion  between  the 
number  of  marriages  and  the  price  of  corn,  and  that  in  the 
same  society  during  the  same  generation,  the  ratio  of  crime 
to  population  varies  within  narrow  limits,  should  be  sufficient 
to  make  all  see  that  human  desires,  using  as  guide  such  intel- 
lect as  is  joined  with  them,  act  with  approximate  uniformity. 
It  should  be  inferred  that  among  social  causes,  those  initiated 
by  legislation,  similarly  operating  with  an  average  regularity, 
must  not  only  change  <  men's  actions,  but,  by  consequence, 


356  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

change  their  natures — probably  in  ways  not  intended.  There 
should  be  recognition  of  the  fact  that  social  causation,  more 
than  all  other  causation,  is  a  fructifying  causation ;  and  it 
should  be  seen  that  indirect  and  remote  effects  are  no  less 
inevitable  than  proximate  effects.  I  do  not  mean  that  there 
is  denial  of  these  statements  and  inferences.  But  there  are 
beliefs  and  beliefs — some  which  are  held  nominally,  some 
which  influence  conduct  in  small  degrees,  some  which  sway 
it  irresistibly  under  all  circumstances ;  and  unhappily  the 
beliefs  of  law-makers  respecting  causation  in  social  affairs, 
are  of  the  superficial  sort.  Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  truths 
which  all  tacitly  admit,  but  which  scarcely  any  take  account 
of  in  legislation. 

There  is  the  indisputable  fact  that  each  human  being  is  in 
a  certain  degree  modifiable,  both  physically  and  mentally. 
Every  theory  of  education,  every  discipline,  from  that  of  the 
arithmetician  to  that  of  the  prize-fighter,  every  proposed 
reward  for  virtue  or  punishment  for  vice,  implies  the  belief, 
embodied  in  sundry  proverbs,  that  the  use  or  disuse  of  each 
faculty,  bodily  or  mental,  is  followed  by  an  adaptive  change 
in  it — loss  of  power  or  gain  of  power,  according  to  demand. 

There  is  the  fact,  also  in  its  broader  manifestations  uni- 
versally recognized,  that  modifications  of  structure,  in  one 
way  or  other  produced,  are  inheritable.  No  one  denies  that 
by  the  accumulation  of  small  changes,  generation  after  gen- 
eration, constitution  fits  itself  to  conditions ;  so  that  a  climate 
which  is  fatal  to  other  races  is  innocuous  to  the  adapted  race. 
"No  one  denies  that  peoples  who  belong  to  the  same  original 
stock,  but  have  spread  into  different  habitats  where  they 
have  led  different  lives,  have  acquired  in  course  of  time 
different  aptitudes  and  different  tendencies.  No  one  denies 
that  under  new  conditions  new  national  characters  are  even 
now  being  moulded ;  as  witness  the  Americans.  And  if 
adaptation  is  everywhere  and  always  going  on,  then  adaptive 
modifications  must  be  set  up  by  every  change  of  social  con- 
ditions. 


THE  SINS  OP  LEGISLATORS.  357 

To  which  there  comes  the  undeniable  corollary  that  every 
law  which  serves  to  alter  men's  modes  of  action — compelling, 
or  restraining,  or  aiding,  in  new  ways — so  affects  them  as  to 
cause,  in  course  of  time,  fresh  adjustments  of  their  natures. 
Beyond  any  immediate  effect  wrought,  there  is  the  remote 
effect,  wholly  ignored  by  most — a  re-moulding  of  the  average 
character :  a  re-moulding  which  may  be  of  a  desirable  kind 
or  of  an  undesirable  kind,  but  which  in  any  case  is  the  most 
important  of  the  results  to  be  considered. 

Other  general  truths  which  the  citizen,  and  still  more  the 
legislator,  ought  to  contemplate  until  they  become  wrought 
into  his  intellectual  fabric,  are  disclosed  when  we  ask  how 
social  activities  are  produced ;  and  when  we  recognize  the 
obvious  answer  that  they  are  the  aggregate  results  of  the 
desires  of  individuals  who  are  severally  seeking  satisfactions, 
and  ordinarily  pursuing  the  ways  which,  with  their  pre- 
existing habits  and  thoughts,  seem  the  easiest — following  the 
lines  of  least  resistance :  the  truths  of  political  economy 
being  so  many  sequences.  It  needs  no  proving  that  social 
structures  and  social  actions  must  in  some  way  or  other  be 
the  outcome  of  human  emotions  guided  by  ideas — either  those 
of  ancestors  or  those  of  living  men.  And  that  the  right  in- 
terpretation of  social  phenomena  is  to  be  found  in  the 
co-operation  of  these  factors  from  generation  to  generation, 
follows  inevitably. 

Such  an  interpretation  soon  brings  us  to  the  inference 
that  among  men's  desires  seeking  gratifications,  those  which 
have  prompted  their  private  activities  and  their  spontaneous 
co-operations,  have  done  much  more  towards  social  develop- 
ment than  those  which  have  worked  through  governmental 
agencies.  That  abundant  crops  now  grow  where  once  only 
wild  berries  could  be  gathered,  is  due  to  the  pursuit  of  indi- 
vidual satisfactions  through  many  centuries.  The  progress 
from  wigwams  to  good  houses  has  resulted  from  wishes  to 
increase  personal  welfare ;  and  towns  have  arisen  under  the 
like  promptings.  Beginning  with  traffic  at  gatherings  on 


358  THE  MAN    VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

occasions  of  religious  festivals,  the  trading  organization,  now 
so  extensive  and  complex,  has  been  produced  entirely  by 
men's  efforts  to  achieve  their  private  ends.  Perpetually, 
governments  have  thwarted  and  deranged  the  growth,  but 
have  in  no  way  furthered  it ;  save  by  partially  discharging 
their  proper  function  and  maintaining  social  order.  So,  too, 
with  those  advances  of  knowledge  and  those  improvements 
of  appliances,  by  which  these  structural  changes  and  these 
increasing  activities  have  been  made  possible.  It  is  not  to 
the  State  that  we  owe  the  multitudinous  useful  inventions 
from  the  spade  to  the  telephone ;  it  was  not  the  State  which 
made  possible  extended  navigation  by  a  developed  astron- 
omy ;  it  was  not  the  State  which  made  the  discoveries  in 
physics,  chemistry,  and  the  rest,  which  guide  modern  manu- 
facturers ;  it  was  not  the  State  which  devised  the  machinery 
for  producing  fabrics  of  every  kind,  for  transferring  men 
and  things  from  place  to  place,  and  for  ministering  in  a  thou- 
sand ways  to  our  comforts.  The  world-wide  transactions 
conducted  in  merchants'  offices,  the  rush  of  traffic  filling  our 
streets,  the  retail  distributing  system  which  brings  everything 
within  easy  reach  and  delivers  the  necessaries  of  life  daily  at 
our  doors,  are  not  of  governmental  origin.  All  these  are 
results  of  the  spontaneous  activities  of  citizens,  separate  or 
grouped.  Nay,  to  these  spontaneous  activities  governments 
owe  the  very  means  of  performing  their  duties.  Divest  the 
political  machinery  of  all  those  aids  which  Science  and  Art 
have  yielded  it — leave  it  with  those  only  which  State-officials 
have  invented ;  and  its  functions  would  cease.  The  very 
language  in  which  its  laws  are  registered  and  the  orders  of 
its  agents  daily  given,  is  an  instrument  not  in  the  remotest 
degree  due  to  the  legislator ;  but  is  one  which  has  unawares 
grown  up  during  men's  intercourse  while  pursuing  their  per- 
sonal satisfactions. 

And  then  a  truth  to  which  the  foregoing  one  introduces 
us,  is  that  this  spontaneously-formed  social  organization  is  so 
bound  together  that  you  cannot  act  on  one  part  without 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  359 

acting  more  or  less  on  all  parts.  We  see  this  unmistakably 
when  a  cotton-famine,  first  paralyzing  certain  manufacturing 
districts  and  then  affecting  the  doings  of  wholesale  and  retail 
distributors  throughout  the  kingdom,  as  well  as  the  people 
they  supply,  goes  on  to  affect  the  makers  and  distributors,  as 
well  as  the  wearers,  of  other  fabrics — woollen,  linen,  &c.  Or 
we  see  it  when  a  rise  in  the  price  of  coal,  besides  influencing 
domestic  life  everywhere,  hinders  many  of  our  industries, 
raises  the  prices  of  the  commodities  produced,  alters  the 
consumption  of  them,  and  changes  the  habits  of  consumers. 
What  we  see  clearly  in  these  marked  cases  happens  in  every 
case,  in  sensible  or  in  insensible  ways.  And  manifestly,  Acts 
of  Parliament  are  among  those  factors  which,  beyond  the 
effects  directly  produced,  have  countless  other  effects  of  mul- 
titudinous kinds.  As  I  heard  remarked  by  a  distinguished 
professor,  whose  studies  give  ample  means  of  judging — 
"  When  once  you  begin  to  interfere  with  the  order  of 
Mature  there  is  no  knowing  where  the  results  will  end." 
And  if  this  is  true  of  that  sub-human  order  of  Nature 
to  which  he  referred,  still  more  is  it  true  of  that  order 
of  Nature  existing  in  the  social  arrangements  of  human 
beings. 

And  now  to  carry  home  the  conclusion  that  the  legislator 
should  bring  to  his  business  a  vivid  consciousness  of  these 
and  other  such  broad  truths  concerning  the  society  with 
which  he  proposes  to  deal,  let  me  present  somewhat  more 
fully  one  of  them  not  yet  mentioned. 

The  continuance  of  every  higher  species  of  creature  de- 
pends on  conformity,  now  to  one,  now  to  the  other,  of  two 
radically-opposed  principles.  The  early  lives  of  its  members, 
and  the  adult  lives  of  its  members,  have  to  be  dealt  with  in 
contrary  ways.  We  will  contemplate  them  in  their  natural 
order. 

One  of  the  most  familiar  facts  is  that  animals  of  superior 
types,  comparatively  slow  in  reaching  maturity,  are  enabled 


360  THE  MAN    VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

when  they  have  reached  it,  to  give  more  aid  to  their  off- 
spring than  animals  of  inferior  types.  The  adults  foster 
their  young  during  periods  more  or  less  prolonged,  while 
yet  the  young  are  unable  to  provide  for  themselves ;  and  it 
is  obvious  that  maintenance  of  the  species  can  be  secured 
only  by  this  parental  care.  It  requires  no  proving  that  the 
blind  unfledged  hedge-bird,  or  the  young  puppy  even  after 
it  has  acquired  sight,  would  forthwith  die  if  it  had  to  keep 
itself  warm  and  obtain  its  own  food.  The  gratuitous  aid 
must  be  great  in  proportion  as  the  young  one  is  of  little 
worth,  either  to  itself  or  to  others ;  and  it  may  diminish  as 
fast  as,  by  increasing  development,  the  young  one  acquires 
worth,  at  first  for  self-sustentation,  and  by-and-by  for  susten- 
tation  of  others.  That  is  to  say,  during  immaturity,  benefits 
received  must  vary  inversely  as  the  power  or  ability  of  the 
receiver.  Clearly  if  during  this  first  part  of  life  benefits 
were  proportioned  to  merits,  or  rewards  to  deserts,  the 
species  would  disappear  in  a  generation. 

From  this  regime  of  the  family-group,  let  us  turn  to  the 
regime  of  that  larger  group  formed  by  adult  members  of 
the  species.  Asks  what  happens  when  the  new  individual, 
acquiring  complete  use  of  its  powers  and  ceasing  to  have 
parental  aid,  is  left  to  itself.  Now  there  comes  into  play  a 
principle  just  the  reverse  to  that  above  described.  Through- 
out the  rest  of  its  life,  each  adult  gets  benefit  in  proportion 
to  merit — reward  in  proportion  to  desert :  merit  and  desert 
in  each  case  being  understood  as  ability  to  fulfil  all  the 
requirements  of  life — to  get  food,  to  find  shelter,  to  escape 
enemies.  Placed  in  competition  with  members  of  its  own 
species  and  in  antagonism  with  members  of  other  species,  it 
dwindles  and  gets  killed  off,  or  thrives  and  propagates, 
according  as  it  is  ill-endowed  or  well-endowed.  Manifestly 
an  opposite  regime,  could  it  be  maintained,  would,  in  course 
of  time,  be  fatal.  If  the  benefits  received  by  each  individual 
were  proportionate  to  its  inferiority — if,  as  a  consequence, 
multiplication  of  the  inferior  was  furthered,  and  multiplies/- 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  3d 

tion  of  the  superior  hindered,  progressive  degradation  would 
result ;  and  eventually  the  degenerate  species  would  fail  to 
hold  its  ground  in  presence  of  antagonistic  species  and  com- 
peting species. 

The  broad  fact  then,  here  to  be  noted,  is  that  Nature's 
modes  of  treatment  inside  the  family-group  and  outside  the 
family-group  are  diametrically  opposed  to  one  another ;  and 
that  the  intrusion  of  either  mode  into  the  sphere  of  the 
other,  would  be  destructive  either  immediately  or  re- 
motely. 

Does  any  one  think  that  the  like  does  not  hold  of  the 
human  species?  lie  cannot  deny  that  within  the  human, 
family,  as  within  any  inferior  family,  it  would  be  fatal  to 
proportion  benefits  to  merits.  Can  he  assert  that  outside  the 
family,  among  adults,  there  should  not  be,  as  throughout  the 
animal  world,  a  proportioning  of  benefits  to  merits  ?  "Will  he 
contend  that  no  mischief  will  result  if  the  lowly  endowed  are 
enabled  to  thrive  and  multiply  as  much  as,  or  more  than,  the 
highly  endowed  ?  A  society  of  men,  standing  towards  other 
societies  in  relations  of  either  antagonism  or  competition, 
may  be  considered  as  a  species,  or,  more  literally,  as  a  variety 
of  a  species ;  and  it  must  be  true  of  it  as  of  other  species  or 
varieties,  that  it  will  be  unable  to  hold  its  own  in  the  struggle 
with  other  societies,  if  it  disadvantages  its  superior  units  that 
it  may  advantage  its  inferior  units.  Surely  none  can  fail  to 
see  that  were  the  principle  of  family  life  to  be  adopted  and 
fully  carried  out  in  social  life — were  reward  always  great  in 
proportion  as  desert  was  small,  fatal  results  to  the  society 
would  quickly  follow ;  and  if  so,  then  even  a  partial  intrusion 
of  the  family  regime  into  the  regime  of  the  State,  will  be 
slowly  followed  by  fatal  results.  Society  in  its  corporate  ca- 
pacity, cannot  without  immediate  or  remoter  disaster  in- 
terfere with  the  play  of  these  opposed  principles  under 
which  every  species  has  reached  such  fitness  for  its  mode 
of  life  as  it  possesses,  and  under  which  it  maintains  that 
fitness. 


362  THE  MAN    VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

I  say  advisedly — society  in  its  corporate  capacity ;  not 
intending  to  exclude  or  condemn  aid  given  to  the  inferior  by 
the  superior  in  their  individual  capacities.  Though  when 
given  so  indiscriminately  as  to  enable  the  inferior  to  multi- 
ply, such  aid  entails  mischief ;  yet  in  the  absence  of  aid 
given  by  society,  individual  aid,  more  generally  demanded 
than  now,  and  associated  with  a  greater  sense  of  responsi- 
bility, would,  on  the  averagCj  be  given  with  the  effect  of 
fostering  the  unfortunate  wrorthy  rather  than  the  innately 
unworthy:  there  being  always,  too,  the  concomitant  social 
benefit  arising  from  culture  of  the  sympathies.  But  all  this 
may  be  admitted  while  asserting  that  the  radical  distinction 
between  family-ethics  and  State-ethics  must  be  maintained ; 
and  that  while  generosity  must  be  the  essential  principle  of 
the  one,  justice  must  be  the  essential  principle  of  the  other — 
a  rigorous  maintenance  of  those  normal  relations  among 
citizens  under  which  each  gets  in  return  for  his  labour, 
skilled  or  unskilled,  bodily  or  mental,  as  much  as  is  proved 
to  be  its  value  by  the  demand  for  it :  such  return,  therefore, 
as  will  enable  him  to  thrive  and  rear  offspring  in  proportion 
to  the  superiorities  which  make  him  valuable  to  himself  and 
others. 

And  yet,  notwithstanding  the  conspicuousness  of  these 
truths,  which  should  strike  everyone  who  leaves  his  lexicons, 
and  his  law-deeds,  and  his  ledgers,  and  looks  abroad  into  that 
natural  order  of  things  under  which  we  exist,  and  to  which 
we  must  conform,  there  is  continual  advocacy  of  paternal 
government.  The  intrusion  of  family-ethics  into  the  ethics 
of  the  State,  instead  of  being  regarded  as  socially  injurious, 
is  more  and  more  demanded  as  the  only  efficient  means  to 
social  benefit.  So  far  has  this  delusion  now  gone,  that  it 
vitiates  the  beliefs  of  those  who  might,  more  than  all  others, 
be  thought  safe  from  it.  In  the  essay  to  which  the  Cobden 
Club  awarded  its  prize  in  1880,  there  occurs  the  assertion 
that  "  the  truth  of  Free  Trade  is  clouded  over  by  the  laissez- 
faire  fallacy ; "  and  we  are  told  that  "  we  need  a  great  deal 


THE  SINS  OP  LEGISLATORS.  363 

more  parental  government — that  bugbear  of  the  old  econo- 
mists." * 

Vitally  important  as  is  the  truth  above  insisted  upon, 
since  acceptance  or  rejection  of  it  affects  the  entire  fabric  of 
political  conclusions  formed,  I  may  be  excused  if  I  emphasize 
it  by  here  quoting  certain  passages  contained  in  a  work  I 
published  in  1851 :  premising,  only,  that  the  reader  must 
not  hold  me  committed  to  such  teleological  implications  as 
they  contain.  After  describing  "  that  state  of  universal  war- 
fare maintained  throughout  the  lower  creation,"  and  showing 
that  an  average  of  benefit  results  from  it,  I  have  continued 
thus : — 

"  Note  further,  that  their  carnivorous  enemies  not  only  remove  from 
herbivorous  herds  individuals  past  their  prime,  but  also  weed  out  the 
sickly,  the  malformed,  and  the  least  fleet  or  powerful.  By  the  aid  of 
which  purifying  process,  as  well  as  by  the  fighting  so  universal  in  the 
pairing  season,  all  vitiation  of  the  race  through  the  multiplication  of 
its  inferior  samples  is  prevented ;  and  the  maintenance  of  a  constitu- 
tion completely  adapted  to  surrounding  conditions,  and  therefore  most 
productive  of  happiness,  is  ensured. 

"  The  development  of  the  higher  creation  is  a  progress  towards  a 
form  of  being  capable  of  a  happiness  undiminished  by  these  drawbacks. 
It  is  in  the  human  race  that  the  consummation  is  to  be  accomplished. 
Civilization  is  the  last  stage  of  its  accomplishment.  And  the  ideal 
man  is  the  man  in  whom  all  the  conditions  of  that  accomplishment  are 
fulfilled.  Meanwhile,  the  well-being  of  existing  humanity,  and  the 
unfolding  of  it  into  this  ultimate  perfection,  are  both  secured  by  that 
same  beneficent,  though  severe  discipline,  to  which  the  animate  crea- 
tion at  large  is  subject :  a  discipline  which  is  pitiless  in  the  working 
out  of  good :  a  felicity-pursuing  law  which  never  swerves  for  the  avoid- 
ance of  partial  and  temporary  suffering.  The  poverty  of  the  incapable, 
the  distresses  that  come  upon  the  imprudent,  the  starvation  of  the  idle, 
and  those  shoulderings  aside  of  the  weak  by  the  strong,  which  leave  so 
many  '  in  shallows  and  in  miseries,'  are  the  decrees  of  a  large,  far-seeing 

benevolence." 

******* 

"  To  become  fit  for  the  social  state,  man  has  not  only  to  lose  his  savage- 

*  On  the  Value  of  Political  Economy  to  Mankind,  By  A.  N.  Gumming, 
pp.  47,  48. 


364  THE  MAN    VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

ness,  but  he  has  to  acquire  the  capacities  needful  for  civilized  life. 
Power  of  application  must  be  developed ;  such  modification  of  the 
intellect  as  shall  qualify  it  for  its  new  tasks  must  take  place;  and, 
above  all,  there  must  be  gained  the  ability  to  sacrifice  a  small  imme- 
diate gratification  for  a  future  great  one.  The  state  of  transition  will 
of  course  be  an  unhappy  state.  Misery  inevitably  results  from  incon- 
gruity between  constitution  and  conditions.  All  these  evils  which 
afflict  us,  and  seem  to  the  uninitiated  the  obvious  consequences  of  this 
or  that  removable  cause,  are  unavoidable  attendants  on  the  adaptation 
now  in  progress.  Humanity  is  being  pressed  against  the  inexorable 
necessities  of  its  new  position — is  being  moulded  into  harmony  with 
them,  and  has  to  bear  the  resulting  unhappiness  as  best  it  can.  The 
process  must  be  undergone,  and  the  sufferings  must  be  endured.  No 
power  on  earth,  no  cunningly-devised  laws  of  statesmen,  no  world- 
rectifying  schemes  of  the  humane,  no  communist  panaceas,  no  reforms 
that  men  ever  did  broach  or  ever  will  broach,  can  diminish  them  one 
jot.  Intensified  they  may  be,  and  are;  a.nd  in  preventing  their  inten- 
sification, the  philanthropic  will  find  ample  scope  for  exertion.  But 
there  is  bound  up  with  the  change  a  normal  amount  of  suffering,  which 
cannot  be  lessened  without  altering  the  very  laws  of  life." 

******* 
"  Of  course,  in  so  far  as  the  severity  of  this  process  is  mitigated  by 
the  spontaneous  sympathy  of  men  for  each  other,  it  is  proper  that  it 
should  be  mitigated ;  albeit  there  is  unquestionably  harm  done  when 
sympathy  is  shown,  without  any  regard  to  ultimate  results.  But  the 
drawbacks  hence  arising  are  nothing  like  commensurate  with  the  bene- 
fits otherwise  conferred.  Only  when  this  sympathy  prompts  to  a  breach 
of  equity — only  when  it  originates  an  interference  forbidden  by  the  law 
of  equal  freedom — only  when,  by  so  doing,  it  suspends  in  some  particu- 
lar department  of  life  the  relationship  between  constitution  and  con- 
ditions, does  it  work  pure  evil.  Then,  however,  it  defeats  its  own 
end.  Instead  of  diminishing  suffering,  it  eventually  increases  it.  It 
favors  the  multiplication  of  those  worst  fitted  for  existence,  and,  by 
consequence,  hinders  the  multiplication  of  those  best  fitted  for  exist- 
ence— leaving,  as  it  does,  less  room  for  them.  It  tends  to  fill  the 
world  with  those  to  whom  life  will  bring  most  pain,  and  tends  to  keep 
out  of  it  those  to  whom  life  will  bring  most  pleasure.  It  inflicts  posi- 
tive misery,  and  prevents  positive  happiness." — Social  Statics,  pp.  322-5 
and  pp.  380-1  (edition  of  1851). 

The  lapse  of  a  third  of  a  century  since  these  passages  were 
published,  has  brought  me  no  reason  for  retreating  from  the 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  365 

position  taken  up  in  them.  Contrariwise,  it  has  brought  a 
vast  amount  of  evidence  strengthening  that  position.  The 
beneficial  results  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,,  prove  to  be 
immeasurably  greater  than  those  above  indicated.  The 
process  of  "natural  selection,"  as  Mr.  Darwin  called  it, 
co-operating  with  a  tendency  to  variation  and  to  inheritance 
of  variations,  he  has  shown  to  be  a  chief  cause  (though  not, 
I  believe,  the  sole  cause)  of  that  evolution  through  which  all 
living  things,  beginning  with  the  lowest  and  diverging  and 
re-diverging  as  they  evolved,  have  reached  their  present 
degrees  of  organization  and  adaptation  to  their  modes  of  life. 
So  familiar  has  this  truth  become  that  some  apology  seems 
needed  for  naming  it.  And  yet,  strange  to  say,  now  that 
this  truth  is  recognized  by  most  cultivated  people — now  that 
the  beneficent  working  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  has  been 
so  impressed  on  them  that,  much  more  than  people  in  past 
times,  they  might  be  expected  to  hesitate  before  neutralizing 
its  action — now  more  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  are  they  doing  all  they  can  to  further  survival  of  the 
tmfittest! 

But  the  postulate  that  men  are  rational  beings,  continually 
leads  one  to  draw  inferences  which  prove  to  be  extremely 
wide  of  the  mark.* 

"  Yes  truly ;  your  principle  is  derived  from  the  lives  of 
brutes,  and  is  a  brutal  principle.  You  will  not  persuade  me 

*  The  saying  of  Emerson  that  most  people  can  understand  a  principle 
only  when  its  light  falls  on  a  fact,  induces  me  here  to  cite  a  fact  which 
may  carry  home  the  above  principle  to  those  on  whom,  in  its  abstract  form, 
it  will  produce  no  effect.  It  rarely  happens  that  the  amount  of  evil  caused 
by  fostering  the  vicious  and  good-for-nothing  can  be  estimated.  But  in 
America,  at  a  meeting  of  the  States  Charities  Aid  Association,  held  on 
December  18,  1874,  a  startling  instance  was  given  in  detail  by  Dr.  Harris. 
It  was  furnished  by  a  county  on  the  Upper  Hudson,  remarkable  for  the 
ratio  of  crime  and  poverty  to  population.  Generations  ago  there  had  ex- 
isted a  certain  "gutter-child,"  as  she  would  be  here  called,  known  as 
"  Margaret,"  who  proved  to  be  the  prolific  mother  of  a  prolific  race.  Be- 
24 


366         THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

that  men  are  to  be  under  the  discipline  which  animals  are 
under.  I  care  nothing  for  your  natural-history  arguments. 
My  conscience  shows  me  that  the  feeble  and  the  suffering 
must  be  helped ;  and  if  selfish  people  won't  help  them,  they 
must  be  forced  by  law  to  help  them.  Don't  tell  me  that  the 
milk  of  human  kindness  is  to  be  reserved  for  the  relations 
between  individuals,  and  that  Governments  must  be  the 
administrators  of  nothing  but  hard  justice.  Every  man  with 
sympathy  in  him  must  feel  that  hunger  and  pain  and  squalor 
must  be  prevented ;  and  that  if  private  agencies  do  not  suf- 
fice, then  public  agencies  must  be  established." 

Such  is  the  kind  of  response  which  I  expect  to  be  made  by 
nine  out  of  ten.  In  some  of  them  it  will  doubtless  result 
from  a  fellow-feeling  so  acute  that  they  cannot  contemplate 
human  misery  without  an  impatience  which  excludes  all 
thought  of  remote  results.  Concerning  the  susceptibilities  of 
the  rest,  we  may,  however,  be  somewhat  sceptical.  Persons 
who  are  angry  if,  to  maintain  our  supposed  national  "  in- 
terests" or  national  "prestige"  those  in  authority  do  not  send 
out  thousands  of  men  to  be  partially  destroyed  while  destroy- 
ing other  thousands  of  men  because  we  suspect  their  inten- 
tions, or  dislike  their  institutions,  or  want  their  territory, 
cannot  after  all  be  so  tender  in  feeling  that  contemplating 
the  hardships  of  the  poor  is  intolerable  to  them.  Little 
admiration  need  be  felt  for  the  professed  sympathies  of  peo- 
ple who  urge  on  a  policy  which  breaks  up  progressing  socie- 
ties ;  and  who  then  look  on  with  cynical  indifference  at  the 
weltering  confusion  left  behind,  with  all  its  entailed  suffering 
and  death.  Those  who,  when  Boers,  asserting  their  independ- 


sides  great  numbers  of  idiots,  imbeciles,  drunkards,  lunatics,  paupers,  and 
prostitutes,  "  the  county  records  show  two  hundred  of  her  descendants  who 
have  been  criminals."  Was  it  kindness  or  cruelty  which,  generation  after 
generation,  enabled  these  to  multiply  and  become  an  increasing  curse  to 
the  society  around  them  f  [For  particulars  see  The  Jukes :  a  Study  in 
Crime,  Pauperism,  Disease  and  Heredity.  By  R.  L.  Dugdale.  New  York : 
Putnams.] 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  367 

ence,  successfully  resisted  us,  were  angry  because  British 
"  honour  "  was  not  maintained  by  fighting  to  avenge  a  defeat, 
at  the  cost  of  more  mortality  and  misery  to  our  own  soldiers 
and  their  antagonists,  cannot  have  so  much  "  enthusiasm  of 
humanity"  as  protests  like  that  indicated  above  would  lead 
one  to  expect.  Indeed,  along  with  this  sensitiveness  which  it 
seems  will  not  let  them  look  with  patience  on  the  pains  of 
"  the  battle  of  life  "  as  it  quietly  goes  on  around,  they  appear 
to  have  a  callousness  which  not  only  tolerates  but  enjoys 
contemplating  the  pains  of  battles  of  the  literal  kind ;  as  one 
sees  in  the  demand  for  illustrated  papers  containing  scenes  of 
carnage,  and  in  the  greediness  writh  which  detailed  accounts 
of  bloody  engagements  are  read.  We  may  reasonably  have 
our  doubts  about  men  whose  feelings  are  such  that  they  can- 
not bear  the  thought  of  hardships  borne,  mostly  by  the  idle 
and  the  improvident,  and  who,  nevertheless,  have  demanded 
thirty-one  editions  of  The  Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the 
World,  in  which  they  may  revel  in  accounts  of  slaughter. 
Nay,  even  still  more  remarkable  is  the  contrast  between  the 
professed  tender-heartedness  and  the  actual  hard-heartedness 
of  those  who  would  reverse  the  normal  course  of  things  that 
immediate  miseries  may  be  prevented,  even  at  the  cost  of 
greater  miseries  hereafter  produced.  For  on  other  occasions 
you  may  hear  them,  with  utter  disregard  of  bloodshed  and 
death,  contend  that  in  the  interests  of  humanity  at  large,  it  is 
well  that  the  inferior  races  should  be  exterminated  and  their 
places  occupied  by  the  superior  races.  So  that,  marvellous 
to  relate,  though  they  cannot  bear  to  think  of  the  evils 
accompanying  the  struggle  for  existence  as  it  is  carried  on 
without  violence  among  individuals  in  their  own  society,  they 
contemplate  with  equanimity  such  evils  in  their  intense  and 
wholesale  forms,  when  inflicted  by  fire  and  sword  on  entire 
communities.  Not  worthy  of  much  respect  then,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  is  this  generous  consideration  of  the  inferior  at  home 
which  is  accompanied  by  unscrupulous  sacrifice  of  the  in- 
ferior abroad. 


368  THE  MAN    VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

Still  less  respectable  appears  this  extreme  concern  for 
those  of  our  own  blood  which  goes  along  with  utter  un- 
concern for  those  of  other  blood,  when  we  observe  its 
methods.  Did  it  prompt  personal  effort  to  relieve  the 
suffering,  it  would  rightly  receive  approving  recognition. 
Were  the  many  who  express  this  cheap  pity  like  the  few 
who  devote  large  parts  of  their  time  to  aiding  and  encourag- 
ing, and  occasionally  amusing,  those  who,  by  ill-fortune  of 
incapacity,  are  brought  to  lives  of  hardship,  they  would  be 
worthy  of  unqualified  admiration.  The  more  there  are  of 
men  and  women  who  help  the  poor  to  help  themselves — the 
more  there  are  of  those  whose  sympathy  is  exhibited  directly 
and  not  by  proxy,  the  more  we  may  rejoice.  But  the 
immense  majority  of  the  persons  who  wish  to  mitigate  by 
law  the  miseries  of  the  unsuccessful  arid  the  reckless,  pro- 
pose to  do  this  in  small  measure  at  their  own  cost  and 
mainly  at  the  cost  of  others — sometimes  with  their  assent 
but  mostly  without.  More  than  this  is  true  ;  for  those  who 
are  to  be  forced  to  do  so  much  for  the  distressed,  often 
equally  or  more  require  something  doing  for  them.  The 
deserving  poor  are  among  those  who  are  taxed  to  support  the 
undeserving  poor.  As,  under  the  old  Poor  Law,  the  diligent 
and  provident  labourer  had  to  pay  that  the  good-for-nothings 
might  not  suffer,  until  frequently  under  this  extra  burden 
he  broke  down  and  himself  took  refuge  in  the  workhouse — • 
as,  at  present,  the  total  rates  levied  in  large  towns  for  all  pub- 
lic purposes,  have  reached  such  a  height  that  they  "  cannot 
be  exceeded  without  inflicting  great  hardship  on  the  small 
shop-keepers  and  artisans,  who  already  find  it  difficult  enough 
to  keep  themselves  free  from  the  pauper  taint ; "  *  so  in  all 
cases,  the  policy  is  one  which  intensifies  the  pains  of  those 
most  deserving  of  pity,  that  the  pains  of  those  least  deserving 
of  pity  may  be  mitigated.  Men  who  are  so  sympathetic  that 
they  cannot  let  the  struggle  for  existence  bring  on  the  m> 

*  Mr.  J.  Chamberlain  in  Fortnightly  Review,  December,  1883,  p.  772. 


369 

worthy  the  sufferings  consequent  on  their  incapacity  or  mis- 
conduct, are  so  unsympathetic  that  they  can,  deliberately,  make 
the  struggle  for  existence  harder  for  the  worthy,  and  inflict 
on  them  and  their  children  artificial  evils  in  addition  to 
the  natural  evils  they  have  to  bear ! 

And  here  we  are  brought  round  to  our  original  topic — the 
sins  of  legislators.  Here  there  comes  clearly  before  us  the 
commonest  of  the  transgressions  which  rulers  commit — a 
transgression  so  common,  and  so  sanctified  by  custom,  that 
no  one  imagines  it  to  be  a  transgression.  Here  we  Bee  that, 
as  indicated  at  the  outset,  Government,  begotten  of  aggression 
and  by  aggression,  ever  continues  to  betray  its  original  nature 
by  its  aggressiveness ;  and  that  even  what  on  its  nearer  face 
seems  beneficence  only,  shows,  on  its  remoter  face,  not  a  little 
maleficence — kindness  at  the  cost  of  cruelty.  For  is  it  not 
cruel  to  increase  the  sufferings  of  the  better  that  the  sufferings 
of  the  worse  may  be  decreased  ? 

It  is,  indeed,  marvellous  how  readily  we  let  ourselves  be 
deceived  by  words  and  phrases  which  suggest  one  aspect  of 
the  facts  while  leaving  the  opposite  aspect  unsuggested.  A 
good  illustration  of  this,  and  one  germane  to  the  immediate 
question,  is  seen  in  the  use  of  the  words  "  protection  "  and 
u  protectionist "  by  the  antagonists  of  free-trade,  and  in  the 
tacit  admission  of  its  propriety  by  free-traders.  While  the 
one  party  has  habitually  ignored,  the  other  party  has 
habitually  failed  to  enphasize,  the  truth  that  this  so-called 
protection  always  involves  aggression ;  and  that  the  name 
aggressionist  ought  to  be  substituted  for  the  name  pro- 
tectionist. For  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  if,  to 
maintain  A's  profit,  B  is  forbidden  to  buy  of  C,  or  is  fined  to 
the  extent  of  the  duty  if  he  buys  of  C,  then  B  is  aggressed 
upon  that  A  may  be  "protected."  Nay,  " aggressionists "  is 
a  title  doubly  more  applicable  to  the  anti-free-traders  than  is 
the  euphemistic  title  "  protectionists ; "  since,  that  one  pro- 
ducer may  gain,  ten  consumers  are  fleeced. 


3  TO  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

Now  just  the  like  confusion  of  ideas,  caused  by  looking 
at  one  face  only  of  the  transaction,  may  be  traced  throughout 
all  the  legislation  which  forcibly  takes  the  property  of  this 
man  for  the  purpose  of  giving  gratis  benefits  to  that  man. 
Habitually  when  one  of  the  numerous  measures  thus  charac- 
terized is  discussed,  the  dominant  thought  is  concerning  the 
pitiable  Jones  who  is  to  be  protected  against  some  evil; 
while  no  thought  is  given  to  the  hard-working  Brown  who 
is  aggressed  upon,  often  much  more  to  be  pitied.  Money 
is  exacted  (either  directly  or  through  raised  rent)  from  the 
huckster  who  only  by  extreme  pinching  can  pay  her  way, 
from  the  mason  thrown  out  of  work  by  a  strike,  from  the 
mechanic  whose  savings  are  melting  away  during  an  illness, 
from  the  widow  who  washes  or  sews  from  dawn  to  dark  to 
feed  her  fatherless  little  ones ;  and  all  that  the  dissolute  may 
be  saved  from  hunger,  that  the  children  of  less  impoverished 
neighbours  may  have  cheap  lessons,  and  that  various  people, 
mostly  better  off,  may  read  newspapers  and  novels  for  noth- 
ing !  The  error  of  nomenclature  is,  in  one  respect,  more 
misleading  than  that  which  allows  aggressionists  to  be  called 
protectionists ;  for,  as  just  shown,  protection  of  the  vicious 
poor  involves  aggression  on  the  virtuous  poor.  •  Doubtless  it 
is  true  that  the  greater  part  of  the  money  exacted  comes  from 
those  who  are  relatively  well-off.  But  this  is  no  consolation 
to  the  ill-off  from  whom  the  rest  is  exacted.  Nay,  if  the 
comparison  be  made  between  the  pressures  borne  by  the  two 
classes  respectively,  it  becomes  manifest  that  the  case  is  even 
worse  than  at  first  appears;  for  while  to  the  well-off  the 
exaction  means  loss  of  luxuries,  to  the  ill-off  it  means  loss  of 
necessaries. 

And  now  see  the  Nemesis  which  is  threatening  to  follow 
this  chronic  sin  of  legislators.  They  and  their  class,  in  com- 
mon with  all  owners  of  property,  are  in  danger  of  suffering 
from  a  sweeping  application  of  that  general  principle  practi- 
cally asserted  by  each  of  these  confiscating  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment. For  what  is  the  tacit  assumption  on  which  such  Acts 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  371 

proceed  ?  It  is  the  assumption  that  no  man  has  any  claim 
to  his  property,  not  even  to  that  which  he  has  earned  by  the 
sweat  of  his  brow,  save  by  permission  of  the  community ; 
and  that  the  community  may  cancel  the  claim  to  any  extent 
it  thinks  fit.  No  defence  can  be  made  for  this  appropriation 
of  A's  possessions  for  the  benefit  of  B,  save  one  which  sets 
out  with  the  postulate  that  society  as  a  whole  has  an  absolute 
right  over  the  possessions  of  each  member.  And  now  this 
doctrine,  which  has  been  tacitly  assumed,  is  being  openly 
proclaimed.  Mr.  George  and  his  friends,  Mr.  Hynd- 
man  and  his  supporters,  are  pushing  the  theory  to  its 
logical  issue.  They  have  been  instructed  by  examples, 
yearly  increasing  in  number,  that  the  individual  has  no 
rights  but  what  the  community  may  equitably  over-ride ; 
and  they  are  now  saying — "  It  shall  go  hard  but  we 
will  better  the  instruction,"  and  abolish  individual  rights 
altogether. 

Legislative  misdeeds  of  the  classes  above  indicated  are  in 
large  measure  explained,  and  reprobation  of  them  mitigated, 
when  we  look  at  the  matter  from  afar  off.  They  have  their 
root  in  the  error  that  society  is  a  manufacture ;  whereas  it  is 
a  growth.  Neither  the  culture  of  past  times  nor  the  culture 
of  the  present  time,  has  given  to  any  considerable  number  of 
people  a  scientific  conception  of  a  society — a  conception  of 
it  as  having  a  natural  structure  in  which  all  its  institutions, 
governmental,  religious,  industrial,  commercial,  &c.,  are  inter- 
dependently  bound — a  structure  which  is  in  a  sense  organic. 
Or  if  such  a  conception  is  nominally  entertained,  it  is  not 
entertained  in  such  way  as  to  be  operative  on  conduct.  Con- 
trariwise, incorporated  humanity  is  very  commonly  thought 
of  as  though  it  were  like  so  much  dough  which  the  cook  can 
mould  as  she  pleases  into  pie-crust,  or  puff,  or  tartlet.  The 
communist  shows  us  unmistakably  that  he  thinks  of  the  body 
politic  as  admitting  of  being  shaped  thus  or  thus  at  will ; 
and  the  tacit  implication  of  many  Acts  of  Parliament  is  that 


372  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

aggregated  men,  twisted  into  this  or  that  arrangement,  will 
remain  as  intended. 

| 

It  may  indeed  be  said  that,  even  irrespective  of  this  er- 
roneous conception  of  a  society  as  a  plastic  mass  instead  of  as 
an  organized  body,  facts  forced  on  his  attention  hour  by  hour 
should  make  everyone  sceptical  as  to  the  success  of  this  or 
that  proposed  way  of  changing  a  people's  actions.  Alike  to 
the  citizen  and  to  the  legislator,  home-experiences  daily  supply 
proofs  that  the  conduct  of  human  beings  baulks  calculation. 
He  has  given  up  the  thought  of  managing  his  wife  and  lets 
her  manage  him.  Children  on  whom  he  has  tried  now  repri- 
mand, now  punishment,  now  suasion,  now  reward,  do  not  re- 
spond satisfactorily  to  any  method;  and  no  expostulation 
prevents  their  mother  from  treating  them  in  ways  he  thinks 
mischievous.  So,  too,  his  dealings  with  his  servants,  whether 
by  reasoning  or  by  scolding,  rarely  succeed  for  long ;  the 
falling  short  of  attention,  or  punctuality,  or  cleanliness,  or 
sobriety,  leads  to  constant  changes.  Yet,  difficult  as  he  finds 
it  to  deal  with  humanity  in  detail,  he  is  confident  of  his  ability 
to  deal  with  embodied  humanity.  Citizens,  not  one-thousandth 
of  whom  he  knows,  not  one-hundredth  of  whom  he  ever  saw, 
and  the  great  mass  of  whom  belong  to  classes  having  habits 
and  modes  of  thought  of  which  he  has  but  dim  notions,  he 
feels  sure  will  act  in  ways  he  foresees,  and  fulfil  ends  he  wishes. 
Is  there  not  a  marvellous  incongruity  between  premises  and 
conclusion  ? 

One  might  have  expected  that  whether  they  observed  the 
implications  of  these  domestic  failures,  or  whether  they  con- 
templated in  every  newspaper  the  indications  of  a  social  life 
too  vast,  too  varied,  too  involved,  to  be  even  vaguely  pictured 
in  thought,  men  would  have  entered  on  the  business  of  law- 
making  with  the  greatest  hesitation.  Yet  in  this  more  than 
anything  else  do  they  show  a  confident  readiness.  Nowhere 
is  there  so  astounding  a  contrast  between  the  difficulty  of  the 
task  and  the  unpreparedness  of  those  who  undertake  it.  Un- 
questionably among  monstrous  beliefs  one  of  the  most  mon- 


THE  SINS  OP  LEGISLATORS.  373 

strous  is  that -while  for  a  simple  handicraft,  such  as  shoemak- 
ing,  a  long  apprenticeship  is  needful,  the  sole  thing  which 
needs  no  apprenticeship  is  making  a  nation's  laws ! 

Summing  up  the  results  of  the  discussion,  may  we  not 
reasonably  say  that  there  lie  before  the  legislator  several  open 
secrets,  which  yet  are  so  open  that  they  ought  not  to  remain 
secrets  to  one  who  undertakes  the  vast  and  terrible  responsi- 
bility of  dealing  with  millions  upon  millions  of  human  beings 
by  measures  which,  if  they  do  not  conduce  to  their  happiness, 
will  increase  their  miseries  and  accelerate  their  deaths  ? 

There  is  first  of  all  the  undeniable  truth,  conspicuous  and 
yet  absolutely  ignored,  that  there  are  no  phenomena  which  a 
society  presents  but  what  have  their  origins  in  the  phenomena 
of  individual  human  life,  which  again  have  their  roots  in  vital 
phenomena  at  large.  And  there  is  the  inevitable  implication 
that  unless  these  vital  phenomena,  bodily  and  mental,  are 
chaotic  in  their  relations  (a  supposition  excluded  by  the  very 
maintenance  of  life)  the  resulting  phenomena  cannot-be  wholly 
chaotic  :  there  must  be  some  kind  of  order  in  the  phenomena 
which  grow  out  of  them  when  associated  human  beings  have 
to  co-operate.  Evidently,  then,  when  one  who  has  not  studied 
such  resulting  phenomena  of  social  order,  undertakes  to  regu- 
late society,  he  is  pretty  certain  to  work  mischiefs. 

In  the  second  place,  apart  from  a  priori  reasoning,  this 
conclusion  should  be  forced  on  the  legislator  by  comparisons 
of  societies.  It  ought  to  be  sufficiently  manifest  that  before 
meddling  with  the  details  of  social  organization,  inquiry 
should  be  made  whether  social  organization  has  a  natural 
history ;  and  that  to  answer  this  inquiry,  it  would  be  well, 
setting  out  with  the  simplest  societies,  to  see  in  what  respects 
social  structures  agree.  Such  comparative  sociology,  pur- 
sued to  a  very  small  extent,  shows  a  substantial  uniformity 
of  genesis.  The  habitual  existence  of  chieftainship,  and  the 
establishment  of  chiefly  authority  by  war ;  the  rise  every- 
where of  the  medicine  man  and  priest ;  the  presence  of  a 


374  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

cult  having  in  all  places  the  same  fundamental  traits;  the 
traces  of  division  of  labour,  early  displayed,  which  gradually 
become  more  marked  ;  and  the  various  complications,  politi- 
cal, ecclesiastical,  industrial,  which  arise  as  groups  are  com- 
pounded and  re-componnded  by  war;  prove  to  any  who 
compare  them  that,  apart  from  all  their  special  differences, 
societies  have  general  resemblances  in  their  modes  of  origin 
and  development.  They  present  traits  of  structure  showing 
that  social  organization  has  laws  which  over-ride  individual 
wills ;  and  laws  the  disregard  of  which  must  be  fraught  with 
disaster. 

And  then,  in  the  third  place,  there  is  that  mass  of  guiding 
information  yielded  by  the  records  of  legislation  in  our  own 
country  and  in  other  countries,  which  still  more  obviously 
demands  attention.  Here  and  elsewhere,  attempts  of  multi- 
tudinous kinds,  made  by  kings  and  statesmen,  have  failed  to 
do  the  good  intended  and  have  worked  unexpected  evils. 
Century  after  century  new  measures  like  the  old  ones,  and 
other  measures  akin  in  principle,  have  again  disappointed 
hopes  and  again  brought  disaster.  And  yet  it  is  thought 
neither  by  electors  nor  by  those  they  elect,  that  there  is  any 
need  for  systematic  study  of  that  law-making  which  in  by- 
gone ages  went  on  working  the  ill-being  of  the  people  when 
it  tried  to  achieve  their  well-being.  Surely  there  can  be  no 
fitness  for  legislative  functions  without  wide  knowledge  of 
those  legislative  experiences  which  the  past  has  bequeathed. 

Reverting,  then,  to  the  analogy  drawn  at  the  outset,  we 
must  say  that  the  legislator  is  morally  blameless  or  morally 
blameworthy,  according  as  he  has  or  has  not  acquainted  him- 
self with  these  several  classes  of  facts.  A  physician  who, 
after  years  of  study,  has  gained  a  competent  knowledge  of 
physiology,  pathology,  and  therapeutics,  is  not  held  crimi- 
nally responsible  if  a  man  dies  under  his  treatment  :  he  has 
prepared  himself  as  well  as  he  can,  and  has  acted  to  the  best 
of  his  judgment.  Similarly  the  legislator  whose  measures 
produce  evil  instead  of  good,  notwithstanding  the  extensive 


THE  SINS  OF  LEGISLATORS.  375 

and  methodic  inquiries  which  helped  him  to  decide,  cannot 
be  held  to  have  committed  more  than  an  error  of  reasoning. 
Contrariwise,  the  legislator  who  is  wholly  or  in  great  part 
uninformed  concerning  the  masses  of  facts  which  he  must 
examine  before  his  opinion  on  a  proposed  law  can  be  of  any 
value,  and  who  nevertheless  helps  to  pass  that  law,  can  no 
more  be  absolved  if  misery  and  mortality  result,  than  the 
journeyman  druggist  can  be  absolved  when  death  is  caused 
by  the  medicine  he  ignorantly  prescribes. 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION. 

THE  great  political  superstition  of  the  past  was  the  divine 
right  of  kings  The  great  political  superstition  of  the  present 
is  the  divine  right  of  parliaments.  The  oil  of  anointing  seems 
unawares  to  have  dripped  from  the  head  of  the  one  on  to  the 
heads  of  the  many,  and  given  sacredness  to  them  also  and  to 
their  decrees. 

However  irrational  we  may  think  the  earlier  of  these  be- 
liefs, we  must  admit  that  it  was  more  consistent  than  is  the 
latter.  Whether  we  go  back  to  times  when  the  king  was  a 
god,  or  to  times  when  he  was  a  descendant  of  a  god,  or  to 
times  when  he  was  god-appointed,  we  see  good  reason  for 
passive  obedience  to  his  will  When,  as  under  Louis  XIV., 
theologians  like  Bossuet  taught  that  kings  "are  gods,  and 
share  in  a  manner  the  Divine  independence,''  or  when  it 
was  thought,  as  by  our  own  Tory  party  in  old  days,  that  "  the 
monarch  was  the  delegate  of  heaven ; "  it  is  clear  that,  given 
the  premise,  the  inevitable  conclusion  was  that  no  bounds 
could  be  set  to  governmental  commands  But  for  the  modern 
belief  such  a  warrant  does  not  exist  Making  no  pretention 
to  divine  descent  or  divine  appointment,  a  legislative  body 
can  show  no  supernatural  justification  for  its  claim  to  un- 
limited authority ;  and  no  natural  justification  has  ever  been 
attempted.  Hence,  belief  in  its  unlimited  authority  is  with- 
out that  consistency  which  of  old  characterized  belief  in  a 
king's  unlimited  authority. 

It  is  curious  how  commonly  men  continue  to  hold  in  fact, 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  377 

doctrines  which  they  have  rejected  in  name — retaining  the 
substance  after  they  have  abandoned  the  form.  In  Theology 
an  illustration  is  supplied  by  Carlyle,  who,  in  his  student  days, 
giving  up,  as  he  thought,  the  creed  of  his  fathers,  rejected  its 
shell  only,  keeping  the  contents ;  and  was  proved  by  his  con- 
ceptions of  the  world,  and  man,  and  conduct,  to  be  still  among 
the  sternest  of  Scotch  Calvinists.  Similarly,  Science  furnishes 
an  instance  in  one  who  united  naturalism  in  Geology  with 
supernaturalism  in  Biology — Sir  Charles  Lyell.  While,  as 
the  leading  expositor  of  the  unif ormitarian  theory  in  Geology, 
he  ignored  only  the  Mosaic  cosmogony,  he  long  defended  that 
belief  in  special  creations  of  organic  types,  for  which  no  other 
source  than  the  Mosaic  cosmogony  could  be  assigned ;  and 
only  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  surrendered  to  the  arguments 
of  Mr.  Darwin.  In  Politics,  as  above  implied,  we  have  an 
analogous  case.  The  tacitly-asserted  doctrine,  common  to 
Tories,  Whigs,  and  Radicals,  that  governmental  authority  is 
unlimited,  dates  back  to  times  when  the  law-giver  was  sup- 
posed to  have  a  warrant  from  God;  and  it  survives  still, 
though  the  belief  that  the  law -giver  has  God's  warrant  has 
died  out.  "  Oh,  an  Act  of  Parliament  can  do  anything,"  is 
the  reply  made  to  a  citizen  who  questions  the  legitimacy  of 
some  arbitrary  State-interference;  and  the  citizen  stands 
paralyzed.  It  does  not  occur  to  him  to  ask  the  how,  and  the 
when,  and  the  whence,  of  this  asserted  omnipotence  bounded 
only  by  physical  impossibilities. 

Here  we  will  take  leave  to  question  it.  In  default  of  the 
justification,  once  logically  valid,  that  the  ruler  on  Earth  being 
a  deputy  of  the  ruler  in  Heaven,  submission  to  him  in  all 
things  is  a  duty,  let  us  ask  what  reason  there  is  for  asserting 
the  duty  of  submission  in  all  things  to  a  ruling  power,  con- 
stitutional or  republican,  which  has  no  Heavenly-derived  su- 
premacy. Evidently  this  inquiry  commits  us  to  a  criticism 
of  past  and  present  theories  concerning  political  authority. 
To  revive  questions  supposed  to  be  long  since  settled,  may  be 
thought  to  need  some  apology  ;  but  there  is  a  sufficient  apology 


378  ."      THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

in  the  implication  above  made  clear,  that  the  theory  commonly 
accepted  is  ill-based  or  unbased. 

The  notion  of  sovereignty  is  that  which  first  presents 
itself;  and  a  critical  examination  of  this  notion,  as  en- 
tertained by  those  who  do  not  assume  the  supernatural 
origin  of  sovereignty,  carries  us  back  to  the  arguments  of 
Hobbes. 

Let  us  grant  Hobbes's  postulate  that,  "  during  the  time 
men  live  without  a  common  power  to  keep  them  all  in  awe, 
they  are  in  that  condition  which  is  called  war  ....  of  every 
man  against  every  man ;  "*  though  this  is  not  true,  since  there 
are  some  small  uncivilized  societies  in  which,  without  any 
'"  common  power  to  keep  them  all  in  awe,"  men  maintain 
peace  and  harmony  better  than  it  is  maintained  in  societies 
where  such  a  power  exists.  Let  us  suppose  him  to  be  right, 
too,  in  assuming  that  the  rise  of  a  ruling  man  over  associated 
men,  results  from  their  desires  to  preserve  order  among 
themselves;  though,  in  fact,  it  habitually  arises  from  the 
need  for  subordination  to  a  leader  in  war,  defensive  or 
offensive,  and  has  originally  no  necessary,  and  often  no  act- 
ual, relation  to  the  preservation  of  order  among  the  combined 
individuals.  Once  more,  let  us  admit  the  indefensible  as- 
sumption that  to  escape  the  evils  of  chronic  conflicts,  which 
must  otherwise  continue  among  them,  the  members  of  a 
community  enter  into  a  "  pact  or  covenant,"  by  which  they 
all  bind  themselves  to  surrender  their  primitive  freedom  of 
action,  and  subordinate  themselves  to  the  will  of  an  autocrat 
agreed  upon :  f  accepting,  also,  the  implication  that  their 
descendants  for  ever  are  bound  by  the  covenant  which  re- 
mote ancestors  made  for  them.  Let  us,  I  say,  not  object  to 
these  data,  but  pass  to  the  conclusions  Hobbes  draws.  He 
says: — 

*  T.  Hobbes,  Collected  Works,  vol.  iii.  pp.  113-13. 
f  Ibid.,  p.  159. 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  379 

"For  where  no  covenant  hath  preceded,  there  hath  no  right  been 
transferred,  and  every  man  has  a  right  to  everything;  and  consequently, 
no  action  can  be  unjust.  But  when  a  covenant  is  made,  then  to  break 
it  is  unjust :  and  the  definition  of  INJUSTICE,  is  no  other  than  the  not 

performance  of  covenant Therefore  before  the  names  of  just  and 

unjust  can  have  place,  there  must  be  some  coercive  power,  to  compel 
men  equally  to  the  performance  of  their  covenants,  by  the  terror  of 
some  punishment,  greater  than  the  benefit  they  expect  by  the  breach  of 
their  covenant."* 

AVere  people's  characters  in  Hobbes's  day  really  so  bad  as 
to  "warrant  his  assumption  that  none  would  perform  their 
covenants  in  the  absence  of  a  coercive  power  and  threatened 
penalties  ?  In  our  day  "  the  names  of  just  and  unjust  can 
have  place"  quite  apart  from  recognition  of  any  coercive 
power.  Among  my  friends  I  could  name  several  whom  I 
would  implicitly  trust  to  perform  their  covenants  without  any 
"  terror  of  such  punishment ; "  and  over  whom  the  require- 
ments of  justice  would  be  as  imperative  in  the  absence  of  a 
coercive  power  as  in  its  presence.  Merely  noting,  however, 
that  this  unwarranted  assumption  vitiates  Hobbes's  argument 
for  State-authority,  and  accepting  both  his  premises  and  con- 
clusion, we  have  to  observe  two  significant  implications.  One 
is  that  State-authority  as  thus  derived,  is  a  means  to  an  end, 
and  has  no  validity  save  as  subserving  that  end  :  if  the  end 
is  not  subserved,  the  authority,  by  the  hypothesis,  does  not 
exist.  The  other  is  that  the  end  for  which  the  authority 
exists,  as  thus  specified,  is  the  enforcement  of  justice — the 
maintenance  of  equitable  relations.  The  reasoning  yields  no 
warrant  for  other  coercion  over  citizens  than  that  which  is 
required  for  preventing  direct  aggressions,  and  those  indirect 
aggressions  constituted  by  breaches  of  contract ;  to  which,  if 
we  add  protection  against  external  enemies,  the  entire  func- 
tion implied  by  Hobbes's  derivation  of  sovereign  authority  is 
comprehended. 

*  Hobbes,  Collected  Works,  vol.  iii.  pp.  130-1. 


380  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

Hobbes  argued  in  the  interests  of  absolute  monarchy. 
His  modern  admirer,  Austin,  had  for  his  aim  to  derive  the 
authority  of  law  from  the  unlimited  sovereignty  of  one  man, 
or  a  number  of  men,  small  or  large  compared  with  the  whole 
community.  Austin  was  originally  in  the  army ;  and  it  has 
been  truly  remarked  that  "  the  permanent  traces  left "  may 
be  seen  in  his  Province  of  Jurisprudence.  When,  unde- 
terred by  the  exasperating  pedantries^the  endless  distinc- 
tions and  definitions  and  repetitions — which  served  but  to 
hide  his  essential  doctrines,  we  ascertain  what  these  are,  it 
becomes  manifest  that  lie  assimilates  civil  authority  to  mili- 
tary authority  ;  taking  for  granted  that  the  one,  as  the  other, 
is  above  question  in  respect  of  both  origin  and  range.  To 
get  justification  for  positive  law,  he  takes  us  back  to  the  abso- 
lute sovereignty  of  the  power  imposing  it — a  monarch,  an 
aristocracy,  or  that  larger  body  of  men  who  have  votes  in  a 
democracy ;  for  such  a  body  also,  he  styles  the  sovereign,  in 
contrast  with  the  remaining  portion  of  the  community  which, 
from  incapacity  or  other  cause,  remains  subject.  And  having 
affirmed,  or,  rather,  taken  for  granted,  the  unlimited  authori- 
ty of  the  body,  simple  or  compound,  small  or  large,  which 
he  styles  sovereign,  he,  of  course,  has  no  difficulty  in  deduc- 
ing the  legal  validity  of  its  edicts,  which  he  calls  positive 
law.  But  the  problem  is  simply  moved  a  step  further  back 
and  there  left  unsolved.  The  true  question  is — "Whence  the 
sovereignty?  What  is  the  assignable  warrant  for  this  un- 
qualified supremacy  assumed  by  one,  or  by  a  small  number, 
or  by  a  large  number,  over  the  rest  ?  A  critic  might  fitly 
say — "  We  will  dispense  with  your  process  of  deriving 
positive  law  from  unlimited  sovereignty  :  the  sequence  is 
obvious  enough.  But  first  prove  your  unlimited  sover- 
eignty." 

To  this  demand  there  is  no  response.  Analyze  his  assump- 
tion, and  the  doctrine  of  Austin  proves  to  have  no  better 
basis  than  that  of  Hobbes.  In  the  absence  of  admitted  divine 
descent  or  appointment,  neither  single-headed  ruler  nor 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  331 

many-headed  ruler  can  produce  such  credentials  as  the  claim 
to  unlimited  sovereignty  implies. 

"But  surely,"  will  come  in  deafening  chorus  the  reply, 
"there  is  the  unquestionable  right  of  the  majority,  which 
gives  unquestionable  right  to  the  parliament  it  elects." 

Yes,  now  we  are  coming  down  to  the  root  of  the  matter. 
The  divine  right  of  parliaments  means  the  divine  right  of 
majorities.  The  fundamental  assumption  made  by  legislators 
and  people  alike,  is  that  a  majority  has  powers  which  have 
no  bounds.  This  is  the  current  theory  which  all  accept 
without  proof  as  a  self-evident  truth.  Nevertheless,  criticism 
will,  I  think,  show  that  this  current  theory  requires  a  radical 
modification. 

In  an  essay  on  "  Railway  Morals  and  Railway  Policy," 
published  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  for  October,  1854, 1  had 
occasion  to  deal  with  the  question  of  a  majority's  powers  as 
exemplified  in  the  conduct  of  public  companies ;  and  I  cannot 
better  prepare  the  way  for  conclusions  presently  to  be  drawn, 
than  by  quoting  a  passage  from  it : — 

"Under  whatever  circumstances,  or  for  whatever  ends,  a  number  of 
men  co-operate,  it  is  held  that  if  difference  of  opinion  arises  among 
them,  justice  requires  that  the  will  of  the  greater  number  shall  be  ex- 
ecuted rather  than  that  of  the  smaller  number;  and  this  rule  is  sup- 
posed to  be  uniformly  applicable,  be  the  question  at  issue  what  it  may. 
So  confirmed  is  this  conviction,  and  so  little  have  the  ethics  of  the 
matter  been  considered,  that  to  most  this  mere  suggestion  of  a  doubt 
will  cause  some  astonishment.  Yet  it  needs  but  a  brief  analysis  to 
show  that  the  opinion  is  little  better  than  a  political  superstition. 
Instances  may  readily  be  selected  which  prove,  by  reductio  ad  absurdum] 
that  the  right  of  a  majority  is  a  purely  conditional  right,  valid  only 
within  specific  limits.  Let  us  take  a  few.  Suppose  that  at  the  general 
meeting  of  some  philanthropic  association,  it  was  resolved  that  in  addi- 
tion to  relieving  distress  the  association  should  employ  home-mission- 
aries to  preach  down  popery.  Might  the  subscriptions  of  Catholics, 
who  had  joined  the  body  with  charitable  views,  be  rightfully  used  for 
this  end?  Suppose  that  of  the  members  of  a  book-club,  the  greater 
number,  thinking  that  under  existing  circumstances  rifle-practice  was 
25 


382        THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

more  important  than  reading,  should  decide  to  change  the  purpose  of 
their  union,  and  to  apply  the  funds  in  hand  for  the  purchase  of  powder, 
ball,  and  targets.  Would  the  rest  be  bound  by  this  decision?  Suppose 
that  under  the  excitement  of  news  from  Australia,  the  majority  of  a 
Freehold  Land  Society  should  determine,  not  simply  to  start  in  a  body 
for  the  gold-diggings,  but  to  use  their  accumulated  capital  to  provide 
outfits.  Would  this  appropriation  of  property  be  just  to  the  minority  ? 
and  must  these  join  the  expedition?  Scarcely  anyone  would  venture 
an  affirmative  answer  even  to  the  first  of  these  questions ;  much  less  to 
the  others.  And  why  ?  Because  everyone  must  perceive  that  by  unit- 
ing himself  with  others,  no  man  can  equitably  be  betrayed  into  acts 
utterly  foreign  to  the  purpose  for  which  he  joined  them.  Each  of  these 
supposed  minorities  would  properly  reply  to  those  seeking  to  coerce 
them: — 'We  combined  with  you  for  a  denned  object;  we  gave  money 
and  time  for  the  furtherance  of  that  object ;  on  all  questions  thence 
arising  we  tacitly  agreed  to  conform  to  the  will  of  the  greater 
number;  but  we  did  not  agree  to  conform  on  any  other  questions. 
If  you  induce  us  to  join  you  by  professing  a  certain  end,  and  then 
undertake  some  other  end  of  which  we  were  not  apprised,  you  obtain 
our  support  under  false  pretences ;  you  exceed  the  expressed  or  under- 
stood compact  to  which  we  committed  ourselves ;  and  we  are  no  longer 
bound  by  your  decisions.'  Clearly  this  is  the  only  rational  interpreta- 
tion of  the  matter.  The  general  principle  underlying  the  right  govern- 
ment of  every  incorporated  body,  is,  that  its  members  contract  with 
one  another  severally  to  submit  to  the  will  of  the  majority  in  all 
matters  concerning  the  fulfilment  of  the  objects  for  which  they  are  in- 
corporated; but  in  no  others.  To  this  extent  only  can  the  contract 
hold.  For  as  it  is  implied  in  the  very  nature  of  a  contract,  that  those 
entering  into  it  must  know  what  they  contract  to  do ;  and  as  those  who 
unite  with  others  for  a  specified  object,  cannot  contemplate  all  the  un- 
specified objects  which  it  is  hypothetically  possible  for  the  union  to 
undertake ;  it  follows  that  the  contract  entered  into  cannot  extend  to 
such  unspecified  objects.  And  if  there  exists  no  expressed  or  under- 
stood contract  between  the  union  and  its  members  respecting  unspecified 
objects,  then  for  the  majority  to  coerce  the  minority  into  undertaking 
them,  is  nothing  less  than  gross  tyranny." 

Naturally,  if  such  a  confusion  of  ideas  exists  in  respect 
of  the  powers  of  a  majority  where  the  deed  of  incorporation 
tacitly  limits  those  powers,  still  more  must  there  exist  such 
a  confusion  where  there  has  been  no  deed  of  incorporation. 
Nevertheless  the  same  principle  holds.  I  again  emphasize 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  383 

the  proposition  that  the  members  of  an  incorporated  body 
are  bound  "  severally  to  submit  to  the  will  of  the  majority 
in  all  matters  concerning  ilie  fulfilment  of  the  objects  for 
which  they  are  incorporated;  but  in  no  others"  And  I 
contend  that  this  holds  of  an  incorporated  nation  as  much  as 
of  an  incorporated  company. 

"  Yes,  but,"  comes  the  obvious  rejoinder,  "  as  there  is  no 
deed  by  which  the  members  of  a  nation  are  incorporated — as 
there  neither  is,  nor  ever  was,  a  specification  of  purposes  for 
which  the  union  was  formed,  there  exist  no  limits  ;  and,  con- 
sequently, the  power  of  the  majority  is  unlimited." 

Evidently  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  hypothesis  of  a 
social  contract,  either  under  the  shape  assumed  by  Hobbes 
or  under  the  shape  assumed  by  Rousseau,  is  baseless.  Nay 
more,  it  must  be  admitted  that  even  had  such  a  contract  once 
been  formed,  it  could  not  be  binding  on  the  posterity  of  those 
who  formed  it.  Moreover,  if  any  say  that  in  the  absence  of 
those  limitations  to  its  powers  which  a  deed  of  incorporation 
might,  imply,  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  a  majority  from 
imposing  its  will  on  a  minority  by  force,  assent  must  be  given 
— an  assent,  however,  joined  with  the  comment  that  if  the 
superior  force  of  the  majority  is  its  justification,  then  the 
superior  force  of  a  despot  backed  by  an  adequate  army,  is 
also  justified ;  the  problem  lapses.  What  we  here  seek  is 
some  higher  warrant  for  the  subordination  of  minority  to 
majority  than  that  arising  from  inability  to  resist  physical 
coercion.  Even  Austin,  anxious  as  he  is  to  establish  the  un- 
questionable authority  of  positive  law,  and  assuming,  as  he 
does,  an  absolute  sovereignty  of  some  kind,  monarchic,  aristo- 
cratic, constitutional,  or  popular,  as  the  source  of  its  unques- 
tionable authority,  is  obliged,  in  the  last  resort,  to  admit  a 
moral  limit  to  its  action  over  the  community.  While  insist- 
ing, in  pursuance  of  his  rigid  theory  of  sovereignty,  that  a 
sovereign  body  originating  from  the  people  "  is  legally  free 
to  abridge  their  political  liberty,  at  its  own  pleasure  or  dis- 
cretion," he  allows  that  "  a  government  may  be  hindered  by 


THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

positive  morality  from  abridging  the  political  liberty  which 
it  leaves  or  grants  to  its  subjects."  *  Hence,  we  have  to  find, 
not  a  physical  justification,  but  a  moral  justification,  for  the 
supposed  absolute  power  of  the  majority. 

This  will  at  once  draw  forth  the  rejoinder — "  Of  course, 
in  the  absence  of  any  agreement,  with  its  implied  limitations, 
the  rule  of  the  majority  is  unlimited  ;  because  it  is  more  just 
that  the  majority  should  have  its  way -than  that  the  minority 
should  have  its  way."  A  very  reasonable  rejoinder  this  seems 
until  there  comes  the  re-rejoinder.  We  may  oppose  to  it  the 
equally  tenable  proposition  that,  in  the  absence  of  an  agreer 
ment,  the  supremacy  of  a  majority  over  a  minority  does  not 
exist  at  all.  It  is  co-operation  of  some  kind,  from  which 
there  arises  these  powers  and  obligations  of  majority  and 
minority ;  and  in  the  absence  of  any  agreement  to  co-operate, 
such  powers  and  obligations  are  also  absent. 

Here  the  argument  apparently  ends  in  a  dead  lock. 
Under  the  existing  condition  of  things,  no  moral  origin  seems 
assignable,  either  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  majority  or  for 
the  limitation  of  its  sovereignty.  But  further  consideration 
reveals  a  solution  of  the  difficulty.  For  if,  dismissing  all 
thought  of  any  hypothetical  agreement  to  co-operate  hereto- 
fore made,  we  ask  what  would  be  the  agreement  into  which 
citizens  would  now  enter  with  practical  unanimity,  we  get  a 
sufficiently  clear  answer;  and  with  it  a  sufficiently  clear 
justification  for  the  rule  of  the  majority  inside  a  certain 
sphere  but  not  outside  that  sphere.  Let  us  first  observe  a 
few  of  the  limitations  which  at  once  become  apparent. 

"Were  all  Englishmen  now  asked  if  they  would  agree  to 
co-operate  for  the  teaching  of  religion,  and  would  give  the 
majority  power  to  fix  the  creed  and  the  forms  of  worship, 
there  would  come  a  very  emphatic  "  No  "  from  a  large  part 
of  them.  If,  in  pursurance  of  a  proposal  to  revive  sumptuary 
laws,  the  inquiry  were  made  whether  they  would  bind  them- 

*  The  Province  of  Jurisprudence  Determined.    Second  Edition,  p.  241..  . 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  385 

selves  to  abide  by  the  will  of  the  majority  in  respect  of  the 
fashions  and  qualities  of  their  clothes,  nearly  all  of  them 
would  refuse.  In  like  manner  if  (to  take  an  actual  question 
of  the  day)  people  were  polled  to  ascertain  whether,  in 
respect  of  the  beverages  they  drank,  they  would  accept  the 
decision  of  the  greater  number,  certainly  half,  and  probably 
more  than  half,  would  be  unwilling.  Similarly  with  respect 
"to  many  other  actions  which  most  men  now-a-days  regard  as 
.of  purely  private  concern.  Whatever  desire  there  might  be 
to  co-operate  for  carrying  on,  or  regulating,  such  actions, 
would  be  far  from  a  unanimous  desire.  Manifestly,  then,  had 
social  co-operation  to  be  commenced  by  ourselves,  and  had  its 
•purposes  to  be  specified  before  consent  to  co-operate  could  be 
obtained,  there  would  be  large  parts  of  human  conduct  in 
respect  of  which  co-operation  would  be  declined ;  and  in 
respect  of  which,  consequently,  no  authority  by  the  majority 
over  the  minority  could  be  rightly  exercised. 

Turn  now  to  the  converse  question — For  what  ends  would 
all  men  agree  to  co-operate  ?  None  will  deny  that  for  resist- 
ing invasion  the  agreement  would  be  practically  unanimous. 
Excepting  only  the  Quakers,  who,  having  done  highly  useful 
work  in  their  time,  are  now  dying  out,  all  would  unite  for 
defensive  war  (not,  however,  for  offensive  war) ;  and  they 
would,  by  so  doing,  tacitly  bind  themselves  to  conform  to  the 
will' of  the  majority  in  respect  of  measures  directed  to  that 
end.  There  would  be  practical  unanimity,  also,  in  the  agree- 
ment to  co-operate  for  defence  against  internal  enemies  as 
against  external  enemies.  Omitting  criminals,  all  must  wish 
to  have  person  .and  property  adequately  protected.  Each 
citizen  desires  to  preserve  his  life,  to  preserve  things  which 
conduce  to  maintenance  and  enjoyment  of  his  life,  and  to 
preserve  intact  his  liberties  both  of  using  these  things  and 
getting  further  such.  It  is  obvious  to  him  that  he  cannot  do 
all  this  if  he  acts  alone.  Against  foreign  invaders  he  is 

o  o 

powerless   unless   he   combines  with   his   fellows ;    and    the 
business  of  protecting  himself  against  domestic  invaders,  if 


386  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

he  did  not  similarly  combine,  would  be  alike  onerous,  danger- 
ous, and  inefficient.  In  one  other  co-operation  all  are  inter- 
ested— use  of  the  territory  they  inhabit.  Did  the  primitive 
communal  ownership  survive,  there  would  survive  the  primi- 
tive communal  control  of  the  uses  to  be  made  of  land  by  in- 
dividuals or  by  groups  of  them  ;  and  decisions  of  the  major- 
ity would  rightly  prevail  respecting  the  terms  on  which 
portions  of  it  might  be  employed  for  raising  food,  for 
making  means  of  communication,  and  for  other  purposes. 
Even  at  present,  though  the  matter  has  been  complicated  by 
the  growth  of  private  landownership,  yet,  since  the  State  is 
still  supreme  owner  (every  landlord  being  in  law  a  tenant  of 
the  Crown)  able  to  resume  possession,  or  authorize  compul- 
sory purchase,  at  a  fair  price ;  the  implication  is  that  the 
will  of  the  majority  is  valid  respecting  the  modes  in  which, 
and  conditions  under  which,  parts  of  the  surface  or  sub-sur- 
face, may  be  utilized :  involving  certain  agreements  made  on 
behalf  of  the  public  with  private  persons  and  companies. 

Details  are  not  needful  here ;  nor  is  it  needful  to  discuss 
that  border  region  lying  between  these  two  classes  of  cases, 
and  to  say  how  much  is  included  in  the  last  and  how  much 
is  excluded  with  the  first.  For  present  purposes,  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  recognize  the  undeniable  truth  that  there  are  numer- 
ous kinds  of  actions  in  respect  of  which  men  would  not,  if 
they  were  asked,  agree  with  anything  like  unanimity  to  be 
bound  by  the  will  of  the  majority ;  while  there  are  some 
kinds  of  actions  in  respect  of  which  they  would  almost 
unanimously  agree  to  be  thus  bound.  Here,  then,  we  find  a 
definite  warrant  for  enforcing  the  will  of  the  majority  within 
certain  limits,  and  a  definite  warrant  for  denying  the  author- 
ity of  its  will  beyond  those  limits. 

But  evidently,  when  analyzed,  the  question  resolves  itself 
into  the  further  question — What  are  the  relative  claims  of 
the  aggregate  and  of  its  units  ?  Are  the  rights  of  the  com- 
munity universally  valid  against  the  individual  ?  or  has  the 
individual  some  rights  which  are  valid  against  the  com- 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  38T 

munity  ?  The  judgment  given  on  this  point  underlies  the 
entire  fabric  of  political  convictions  formed,  and  more 
especially  those  convictions  which  concern  the  proper  sphere 
of  government.  Here,  then,  I  propose  to  revive  a  dormant 
controversy,  with  the  expectation  of  reaching  a  different  con- 
clusion from  that  which  is  fashionable. 

Says  Professor  Jevons,  in  his  work,  The  State  in  Relation 
to  Labour, — "  The  first^step  must  be  to  rid  our  minds  of  the 
idea  that  there  are  any  such  things  in  social  matters  as 
abstract  rights."  Of  like  character  is  the  belief  expressed 
by  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  in  his  article  on  Copyright : — 
"  An  author  has  no  natural  right  to  a  property  in  his  produc- 
tion. But  then  neither  has  he  a  natural  right  to  anything 
whatever  which  he  may  produce  or  acquire."  *  So,  too,  I 
recently  read  in  a  weekly  journal  of  high  repute,  that  "to 
explain  once  more  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  '  natural 
right '  would  be  a  waste  of  philosophy."  And  the  dew  ex- 
pressed in  these  extracts  is  commonly  uttered  by  statesmen 
and  lawyers  in  a  way  implying  that  only  the  unthinking 
masses  hold  any  other. 

One  might  have  expected  that  utterances  to  this  effect 
would  have  been  rendered  less  dogmatic  by  the  knowledge 
that  a  whole  school  of  legists  on  the  Continent,  maintains 
a  belief  diametrically  opposed  to  that  maintained  by  the 
English  school.  The  idea  of  Natur-recht  is  the  root-idea  of 
German  jurisprudence.  Now  whatever  may  be  the  opinion 
held  respecting  German  philosophy  at  large,  it  cannot  be 
characterised  as  shallow.  A  doctrine  current  among  a  people 
distinguished  above  all  others  as  laborious  inquirers,  and 
certainly  not  to  be  classed  with  superficial  thinkers,  should 
not  be  dismissed  as  though  it  were  nothing  more  than  a 
popular  delusion.  This,  however,  by  the  way.  Along  with 
the  proposition  denied  in  the  above  quotations,  there  goes  a 

*  Fortnightly  Review,  1880,  vol.  xxvii.  p.  322. 


338        THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

counter-proposition  affirmed.  Let  us  see  what  it  is;  and 
what  results  when  we  go  behind  it  and  seek  its  warrant. 

On  reverting  to  Bentham,  we  find  this  counter-proposition 
openly  expressed.  He  tells  us  that  government  fulfils  its 
office  "  by  creating  rights  which  it  confers  upon  individuals : 
rights  of  personal  security ;  rights  of  protection  for  honour  ; 
rights  of  property ; "  &c.*  Were  this  doctrine  asserted  as 
following  from  the  divine  right  of  kings,  there  would  be 
nothing  in  it  manifestly  incongruous.  Did  it  come  to  us 
from  ancient  Peru,  where  the  Ynca  "  was  the  source  from 
which  everything  flowed ; "  f  or  from  Shoa  (Abyssinia),  where 
"  of  their  persons  and  worldly  substance  he  [the  King]  is 
absolute  master ; "  $  or  from  Dahome,  where  "  all  men  are 
slaves  to  the  king ; "  *  it  would  be  consistent  enough.  But 
Bentham,  far  from  being  an  absolutist  like  Hobbes,  wrote  in 
the  interests  of  popular  rule.  In  his  Constitutional  Code  \ 
he  fixes  the  sovereignty  in  the  whole  people ;  arguing  that 
it  is  best  "  to  give  the  sovereign  power  to  the  largest  possible 
portion  of  those  whose  greatest  happiness  is  the  proper  and 
chosen  object,"  because  "this  proportion  is  more  apt  than 
any  other  that  can  be  proposed "  for  achievement  of  that 
object. 

Mark,  now,  what  happens  when  we  put  these  two  doc- 
trines together.  The  sovereign  people  jointly  appoint  repre- 
sentatives, and  so  create  a  government ;  the  government  thus 
created,  creates  rights ;  and  then,  having  created  rights,  it 
confers  them  on  the  separate  members  of  the  sovereign  peo- 
ple by  which  it  was  itself  created.  Here  is  a  marvellous 
piece  of  political  legerdemain !  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold,  con- 
tending, in  the  article  above  quoted,  that  "  property  is  the 
creation  of  law,"  tells  us  to  beware  of  the  "metaphysical 

*  Bentham's  Works  (Bowring's  edition),  vol.  i.  p.  301. 
f  W.  H.  Prescott,  Conquest  of  Peru,  bk.  i.  ch.  i. 

\  J.  Harris,  Highlands  of  ^Ethiopia,  ii.  94. 

*  R.  F.  Burton,  Mission  to  Gelele,  King  ofDahome,  i.  p.  226. 
[  Bentham's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  97. 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  389 

phantom  of  property  in  itself."  Surely,  among  metaphysical 
phantoms  the  most  shadowy  is  this  which  supposes  a  thing 
to  be  obtained  by  creating  an  agent,  which  creates  the  thing, 
and  then  confers  the  thing  on  its  own  creator ! 

From  whatever  point  of  view  we  consider  it,  Bentham's 
proposition  proves  to  be  unthinkable.  Government,  he  says, 
fulfils  its  office  "  by  creating  rights."  Two  meanings  may  be 
given  to  the  word  "  creating."  It  may  be  supposed  to  mean 
the  production  of  something  out  of  nothing ;  or  it  may  be 
supposed  to  mean  the  giving  form  and  structure  to  some- 
thing which  already  exists.  There  are  many  who  think  that 
the  production  of  something  out  of  nothing  cannot  be  con- 
ceived as  effected  even  by  omnipotence ;  and  probably  none 
will  assert  that  the  production  of  something  out  of  nothing 
is  within  the  competence  of  a  human  government.  The  alter- 
native conception  is  that  a  human  government  creates  only 
in  the  sense  that  it  shapes  something  pre-existing.  In  that 
case,  the  question  arises — "  What  is  the  something  pre-exist- 
ing which  it  shapes?"  Clearly  the  word  "creating"  begs 
the  whole  question — passes  off  an  illusion  on  the  unwary 
reader.  Bentham  was  a  stickler  for  definiteness  of  expres- 
sion, and  in  his  Book  of  Fallacies  has  a  chapter  on  "  Impos- 
tor-terms." It  is  curious  that  he  should  have  furnished  so 
striking  an  illustration  of  the  perverted  belief  which  an  im- 
postor-term may  generate. 

But  now  let  us  overlook  these  various  impossibilities  of 
thought,  and  seek  the  most  defensible  interpretation  of  Ben- 
tham's view. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  totality  of  all  powers  and  rights, 
originally  exists  as  an  undivided  whole  in  the  sovereign  peo- 
ple; and  that  this  undivided  whole  is  given  in  trust  (as  Aus- 
tin would  say)  to  a  ruling  power,  appointed  by  the  sovereign 
people,  for  the  purpose  of  distribution.  If,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  proposition  that  rights  are  created  is  simply  a  figure  of 
speech ;  then  the  only  intelligible  construction  of  Bentham's 
view  is  that  a  multitude  of  individuals,  who  severally  wish  to 


'390  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

satisfy  their  desires,  and  have,  as  an  aggregate,  possession  of 
all  the  sources  of  satisfaction,  as  well  as  power  over  all  indi- 
vidual actions,  appoint  a  government,  which  declares  the 
ways  in  which,  and  the  conditions  under  which,  individual 
actions  may  be  carried  on  and  the  satisfactions  obtained. 
Let  us  observe  the  implications.  Each  man  exists  in  two 
capacities.  In  his  private  capacity  he  is  subject  to  the  gov- 
ernment. In  his  public  capacity  he  is  one  of  the  sovereign 
people  who  appoint  the  government.  That  is  to  say,  in  his 
private  capacity  he  is  one  of  those  to  whom  rights  are  given ; 
and  in  his  public  capacity  he  is  one  of  those  who,  through 
the  government  they  appoint,  give  the  rights.  Turn  this 
abstract  statement  into  a  concrete  statement,  and  see  what  it 
means.  Let  the  community  consist  of  a  million  men,  who, 
by  the  hypothesis,  are  not  only  joint  possessors  of  the  in- 
habited region,  but  joint  possessors  of  all  liberties  of  action 
and  appropriation :  the  only  right  recognized  being  that  of 
the  aggregate  to  everything.  What  follows  ?  Each  person, 
while  not  owning  any  product  of  his  own  labour,  has,  as  a 
unit  in  the  sovereign  body,  a  millionth  part  of  the  ownership 
of  the  products  of  all  others'  labour.  This  is  an  unavoidable 
implication.  As  the  government,  in  Bentham's  view,  is  but 
an  agent ;  the  rights  it  confers  are  rights  given  to  it  in  trust 
by  the  sovereign  people.  If  so,  such  rights  must  be  possessed 
en  Hoc  by  the  sovereign  people  before  the  government,  in 
fulfilment  of  its  trust,  confers  them  on  individuals ;  and,  if 
so,  each  individual  has  a  millionth  portion  of  these  rights  in 
his  public  capacity,  while  he  has  no  rights  in  his  private 
capacity.  These  he  gets  only  when  all  the  rest  of  the  million 
join  to  endow  him  with  them ;  while  he  joins  to  endow  with 
them  every  other  member  of  the  million ! 

Thus,  in  whatever  way  we  interpret  it,  Bentham's  propo- 
sition leaves  us  in  a  plexus  of  absurdities. 

Even  though  ignoring  the  opposite  opinion  of  German 
and  French  writers  on  jurisprudence,  and  even  without  an 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  391 

analysis  which  proves  their  own  opinion  to  be  untenable, 
Bentham's  disciples  might  have  been  lead  to  treat  less  cava- 
lierly the  doctrine  of  natural  rights.  For  sundry  groups  of 
social  phenomena  unite  to  prove  that  this  doctrine  is  well 
warranted,  and  the  doctrine  they  set  against  it  unwarranted. 
Tribes  all  over  the  world  show  us  that  before  definite 
government  arises,  conduct  is  regulated  by  customs.  The 
Bechuanas  are  controlled  by  "  long-acknowledged  customs."  * 
Among  the  Koranna  Hottentots,  who  only  "  tolerate  their 
chiefs  rather  than  obey  them,"  f  "  when  ancient  usages  are 
not  in  the  way,  every  man  seems  to  act  as  is  right  in  his  own 
eyes."  %  The  Araucanians  are  guided  by  "  nothing  more 
than  primordial  usuages  or  tacit  conventions."  *  Among  the 
Kirghizes  the  judgments  of  the  elders  are  based  on  "  univers- 
ally-recognized customs."  |  Similarly  of  the  Dyaks,  Rajah 
Brooke  says  that  "  custom  seems  simply  to  have  become  the 
law ;  and  breaking  custom  leads  to  a  fine."  A  So  sacred  are 
immemorial  customs  with  the  primitive  man,  that  he  never 
dreams  of  questioning  their  authority ;  and  when  govern- 
ment arises,  its  power  is  limited  by  them.  In  Madagascar 
the  king's  word  suffices  only  "  where  there  is  no  law,  custom, 
or  precedent."  Q  Raffles  tells  us  that  in  Java  "  the  customs 
of  the  country "  J  restrain  the  will  of  the  ruler.  In  Su- 
matra, too,  the  people  do  not  allow  their  chiefs  to  "alter 
their  ancient  usages."  $  Nay,  occasionally,  as  in  Ashantee, 

*  W.  J.  Burchell,  Travels  into  the  Interior  of  Southern  Africa,  vol.  i. 
p.  544. 

f  Arbousset  and  Daumas,  Voyage  of  Exploration,  p.  27. 
\  G.  Thompson,   Travels  and  Adventures  in  Southern  Africa,  vol.  ii. 
p.  30. 

*  G.  A.  Thompson,  Alcedo's  Geographical  and  Historical  Dictionary 
of  America,  vol.  i.  p.  405. 

I  Alex.  Michie,  Siberian  Overland  Route,  p.  248. 
A  C.  Brooke,  Ten  Years  in  Sarawak,  vol.  i.  p.  129. 
Q  W.  Ellis,  History  of  Madagascar,  vol.  i.  p.  377, 
j  Sir  T.  S.  Raffles,  History  of  Java,  i.  274. 
$  W.  Marsden,  History  of  Sumatra,  p.  217. 


392  THE  MAN    VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

"  the  attempt  to  change  some  customs "  has  caused  a  king's 
dethronement.  *  Now,  among  the  customs  which  we  thus 
find  to  be  pre-governmental,  and  which  subordinate  govern- 
mental power  when  it  is  established,  are  those  which  recog- 
nize certain  individual  rights — rights  to  act  in  certain  ways 
and  possess  certain  things.  Even  where  the  recognition  of 
of  property  is  least  developed,  there  is  proprietorship  of 
weapons,  tools,  and  personal  ornaments;  and,  generally,  the 
recognition  goes  far  beyond  this.  Among  such  North- 
American  Indians  as  the  Snakes,  who  are  without  Govern- 
ment, there  is  private  ownership  of  horses.  By  the  Chippe- 
wayans,  "  who  have  no  regular  government,"  game  taken  in 
private  traps  "  is  considered  as  private  property."  f  Kin- 
dred facts  concerning  huts,  utensils,  and  other  personal  be- 
longings, might  be  brought  in  evidence  from  accounts  of  the 
Ahts,  the  Comanches,  the  Esquimaux,  and  the  Brazilian 
Indians.  Among  various  uncivilized  peoples,  custom  has 
established  the  claim  to  the  crop  grown  on  a  cleared  plot  of 
ground,  though  not  to  the  ground  itself;  and  the  Todas, 
who  are  wholly  without  political  organization,  make  a  like 
distinction  between  ownership  of  cattle  and  of  land.  Kolff's 
statement  respecting  "  the  peaceful  Araf uras  "  well  sums  up 
the  evidence.  They  "  recognize  the  right  of  property  in  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  word,  without  their  being  any  [other] 
authority  among  them  than  the  decisions  of  their  elders, 
-according  to  the  customs  of  their  forefathers."  %  But  even 
without  seeking  proofs  among  the  uncivilized,  sufficient 
proofs  are  furnished  by  early  stages  of  the  civilized.  Ben- 
tham  and  his  followers  seem  to  have  forgotten  that  our  own 
common  law  is  mainly  an  embodiment  of  "  the  customs  of 
the  realm."  It  did  but  give  definite  shape  to  that  which  it 
found  existing.  Thus,  the  fact  and  the  fiction  are  exactly 

*  J.  Beecham,  Ashantee  and  the  Gold  Coast,  p.  90. 
f  II.  R.  Schoolcraft,  Expedition  to  the  Sources  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
v.  177. 

t  G.  W.  Earl's  Kolff's  Voyage  of  the  Dourga,  p.  -161. 


THE   GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  393 

opposite  to  what  they  allege.  The  fact  is  that  property  was 
well  recognized  before  law  existed  ;  the  fiction  is  that  "  prop- 
erty is  the  creation  of  law."  These  writers  and  statesmen 
who  with  so  much  scorn  undertake  to  instruct  the  ignorant 
herd,  themselves  stand  in  need  of  instruction. 

Considerations  of  another  class  might  alone  have  led  them 
to  pause.  Were  it  true,  as  alleged  by  Bentham,  that  Govern- 
ment fulfils  its  office  "  by  creating  rights  which  it  confers  on 
individuals ; "  then,  the  implication  would  be,  that  there  should 
be  nothing  approaching  to  uniformity  in  the  rights  conferred 
by  different  governments.  In  the  absence  of  a  determining 
cause  over-ruling  their  decisions,  the  probabilities  would  be 
many  to  one  against  considerable  correspondence  among  their 
decisions.  But  there  is  very  great  correspondence.  Look 
where  we  may,  we  find  that  governments  interdict  the  same 
kinds  of  aggressions  ;  and,  by  implication,  recognize  the  same 
kinds  of  claims.  They  habitually  forbid  homicide,  theft, 
adultery :  thus  asserting  that  citizens  may  not  be  trespassed 
against  in  certain  ways.  And  as  society  advances,  minor  in- 
dividual claims  are  protected  by  giving  remedies  for  breach 
of  contract,  libel,  false  witness,  &c.  In  a  word,  comparisons 
show  that  though  codes  of  law  differ  in  their  details  as  they 
become  elaborated,  they  agree  in  their  fundamentals.  What 
does  this  prove?  It  cannot  be  by  chance  that  they  thus 
agree.  They  agree  because  the  alleged  creating  of  rights  was 
nothing  else  than  giving  formal  sanction  and  better  definition 
to  those  assertions  of  claims  and  recognitions  of  claims  which 
naturally  originate  from  the  individual  desires  of  men  who 
have  to  live  in  presence  of  one  another. 

Comparative  Sociology  discloses  another  group  of  facts 
having  the  same  implication.  Along  with  social  progress  it 
becomes  in  an  increasing  degree  the  business  of  tl>e  State, 
not  only  to  give  formal  sanction  to  men's  rights,  but  also  to 
defend  them  against  aggressors.  Before  permanent  govern- 
ment exists,  and  in  many  cases  after  it  is  considerably  de- 
veloped, the  rights  of  each  individual  are  asserted  and  main- 


394  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

tained  by  himself,  or  by  his  family.  Alike  among  savage 
tribes  at  present,  among  civilized  peoples  in  the  past,  and 
even  now  in  unsettled  parts  of  Europe,  the  punishment  for 
murder  is  a  matter  of  private  concern ;  "  the  sacred  duty  of 
blood  revenge "  devolves  on  some  one  of  a  cluster  of  rela- 
tives. Similarly,  compensations  for  aggressions  on  property 
and  for  injuries  of  other  kinds,  are  in  early  states  of  society 
independently  sought  by  each  man  or  family.  But  as  social 
organization  advances,  the  central  ruling  power  undertakes 
more  and  more  to  secure  to  individuals  their  personal  safety, 
the  safety  of  their  possessions,  and,  to  some  extent,  the  en- 
forcement of  their  claims  established  by  contract.  Originally 
concerned  almost  exclusive  with  defence  of  the  society  as 
a  whole  against  other  societies,  or  with  conducting  its  attacks 
on  other  societies,  Government  has  come  more  and  more  to 
discharge  the  function  of  defending  individuals  against  one 
another.  It  needs  but  to  recall  the  days  when  men  habitu- 
ally carried  weapons,  or  to  bear  in  mind  the  greater  safety  to 
person  and  property  achieved  by  improved  police-administra- 
tion during  our  own  time,  or  to  note  the  facilities  now  given 
for  recovering  small  debts,  to  see  that  the  insuring  to  each 
individual  the  unhindered  pursuit  of  the  objects  of  life, 
within  limits  set  by  others'  like  pursuits,  is  increasingly 
recognized  as  a  duty  of  the  State.  In  other  words,  along 
with  social  progress,  there  goes  not  only  a  fuller  recognition 
of  these  which  we  call  natural  rights,  but  also  a  better 
enforcement  of  them  by  Government :  Government  becomes 
more  and  more  the  servant  to  these  essential  pre-requisites 
for  individual  welfare. 

An  allisd  and  still  more  significant  change  has  accom- 
panied this.  In  early  stages,  at  the  same  time  that  the  State 
failed  to  protect  the  individual  against  aggression,  it  was 
itself  an  aggressor  in  multitudinous  ways.  Those  ancient 
societies  which  advanced  far  enough  to  leave  records,  having 
all  been  conquering  societies,  show  us  everywhere  the  traits 
of  the  militant  regime.  As,  for  the  effectual  organization  of 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  395 

fighting  bodies,  the  soldiers,  absolutely  obedient,  imist  act 
independently  only  when  commanded  to  do  it ;  so,  for  the 
effectual  organization  of  fighting  societies,  citizens  must  have 
their  individualities  subordinated.  Private  claims  are  over- 
ridden by  public  claims ;  and  the  subject  loses  much  of  his 
freedom  of  action.  One  result  is  that  the  system  of  regi- 
mentation, pervading  the  society  as  well  as  the  army,  causes 
detailed  regulation  of  conduct.  The  dictates  of  the  ruler, 
sanctified  by  ascription  of  them  to  his  divine  ancestor,  are 
unrestrained  by  any  conception  of  individual  liberty ;  and 
they  specify  men's  actions  to  an  unlimited  extent — down  to 
kinds  of  food  eaten,  modes  of  preparing  them,  shaping  of 
beards,  fringing  of  dresses,  sowing  of  grain,  &c.  This  omni- 
present control,  which  the  ancient  Eastern  nations  in  general 
exhibited,  was  exhibited  also  in  large  measure  by  the  Greeks ; 
and  was  carried  to  its  greatest  pitch  in  the  most  militant 
city,  Sparta.  Similarly  during  mediaeval  days  throughout 
Europe,  characterized  by  chronic  warfare  with  its  appropri- 
ate political  forms  and  ideas,  there  were  scarcely  any  bounds 
to  Governmental  interference ;  agriculture,  manufactures, 
trades,  were  regulated  in  detail ;  religious  beliefs  and  observ- 
ances were  imposed ;  and  rulers  said  by  whom  alone  furs 
might  be  worn,  silver  used,  books  issued,  pigeons  kept,  &c., 
&c.  But  along  with  increase  of  industrial  activities,  and 
implied  substitution  of  the  regime  of  contract  for  the  regime 
of  status,  and  growth  of  associated  sentiments,  there  went 
(until  the  recent  reaction  accompanying  reversion  to  mili- 
tant activity)  a  decrease  of  meddling  with  people's  doings. 
Legislation  gradually  ceased  to  regulate  the  cropping  of 
fields,  or  dictate  the  ratio  of  cattle  to  acreage,  or  specify 
modes  of  manufacture  and  materials  to  be  used,  or  fix  wages 
and  prices,  or  interfere  with  dresses  and  games  (except 
where  there  was  gambling),  or  put  bounties  and  penalties  on 
imports  or  exports,  or  prescribe  men's  beliefs,  religious  or 
political,  or  prevent  them  from  combining  as  they  pleased, 
or  travelling  where  they  liked.  That  is  to  say,  through™-'1' 


396  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

large  range  of  conduct,  the  right  of  the  citizen  to  uncon- 
trolled action  has  been  made  good  against  the  pretensions  of 
the  State  to  control  him.  While  the  ruling  agency  has  in- 
creasingly helped  him  to  exclude  intruders  from  that  private 
sphere  in  which  he  pursues  the  objects  of  life,  it  has  itself 
retreated  from  that  sphere  ;  or,  in  other  words — decrea.-  ed 
its  intrusions. 

Not  even  yet  have  we  noted  all  the  classes  of  facts  which 
tell  the  same  story.  It  is  told  afresh  in  the  improvements 
and  reforms  of  law  itself  ;  as  well  as  in  the  admissions  and 
assertions  of  those  who  have  effected  them.  "  So  early  as 
the  fifteenth  century,"  says  Professor  Pollock,  "  we  find  a 
common-law  judge  declaring  that,  as  in  a  case  unprovided 
for  by  known  rules  the  civilians  and  canonists  devise  a  new 
rule  according  to  '  the  law  of  nature  which  is  the  ground  of 
all  laws,'  the  Courts  of  Westminster  can  and  will  do  the 
like."  *  Again,  our  system  of  Equity,  introduced  and  de- 
veloped as  it  was  to  make  up  for  the  shortcomings  of 
Common-law,  or  rectify  its  inequities,  proceeded  throughout 
on  a  recognition  of  men's  claims  considered  as-  existing  apart 
from  legal  warrant.  And  the  changes  of  law  now  from  time 
to  time  made  after  resistance,  are  similarly  made  in  pursu- 
ance of  current  ideas  concerning  the  requirements  of  jus- 
tice ;  ideas  which,  instead  of  being  derived  from  the  law,  are 
opposed  to  the  law.  For  example,  that  recent  Act  which 
gives  to  a  married  woman  a  right  of  property  in  her  own 
earnings,  evidently  originated  in  the  consciousness  that  the 
natural  connexion  between  labour  expended  and  benefit  en- 
joyed, is  one  which  should  be  maintained  in  all  cases.  The 
reformed  law  did  not  create  the  right,  but  recognition  of  the 
right  created  the  reformed  law. 

Thus,  historical  evidences  of  five  different  kinds  unite  in 
teaching  that,  confused  as  are  the  popular  notions  concerning 

*  "  The  Methods  of  Jurisprudence:  an  Introductory  Lecture  at  Uni- 
versity College,  London,"  October  31,  1882. 


THE  GREAT   POLITICAL  SVPERSTITIOX.  397 

rights,  and  including,  as  they  do,  a  great  deal  which  should 
be  excluded,  yet  they  shadow  forth  a  truth. 

It  remains  now  to  consider  the  original  source  of  this 
truth.  In  a  previous  paper  I  have  spoken  of  the  open  secret, 
that  there  can  be  no  social  phenomena  but  what,  if  we  analyze 
them  to  the  bottom,  bring  us  down  to  the  laws  of  life ;  and 
that  there  can  be  no  true  understanding  of  them  without  re- 
ference to  the  laws  of  life.  Let  us,  then,  transfer  this  ques- 
tion of  natural  rights  from  the  court  of  politics  to  the  court 
of  science — the  science  of  life.  The  reader  need  feel  no  alarm : 
the  simplest  and  most  obvious  facts  will  suffice.  We  will  con- 
template first  the  general  conditions  to  individual  life ;  and 
then  the  general  conditions  to  social  life.  We  shall  find  that 
both  yield  the  same  verdict. 

Animal  life  involves  waste  ;  waste  must  be  met  by  repair ; 
repair  implies  nutrition.  Again,  nutrition  presupposes  ob- 
taimnent  of  food  ;  food  cannot  be  got  without  powers  of  pre- 
hension, and,  usually,  of  locomotion  ;  and  that  these  powers 
may  achieve  their  ends,  there  must  be  freedom  to  move 
about.  If  you  shut  up  a  mammal  in  a  small  space,  or  tie  its 
limbs  together,  or  take  from  it  the  food  it  has  procured,  you 
eventually,  by  persistence  in  one  or  other  of  these  courses, 
cause  its  death.  Passing  a  certain  point,  hindrance  to  the 
fulfilment  of  these  requirements  is  fatal.  And  all  this,  which 
holds  of  the  higher  animals  at  large,  of  course  holds  of  man. 

If  we  adopt  pessimism  as  a  creed,  and  with  it  accept  the 
implication  that  life  in  general  being  an  evil  should  be  put 
an  end  to,  then  there  is  no  ethical  warrant  for  these  actions 
by  which  life  is  maintained  :  the  whole  question  drops.  But 
if  we  adopt  either  the  optimist  view  or  the  meliorist  view — if 
we  say  that  life  on  the  whole  yields  more  pleasure  than  pain ; 
or  that  it  is  on  the  way  to  become  such  that  it  will  yield  more 
pleasure  than  pain  ;  then  these  actions  by  which  life  is  main- 
tained are  justified,  and  there  results  a  warrant  for  the  free- 
dom to  perform  them.  Those  who  hold  that  life  is  valuable, 
-  26 


398  THE  MAN    VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

hold,  by  implication,  that  men  ought  not  to  be  prevented  from 
carrying  on  life-sustaining  activities.  In  other  words,  if  it  is 
said  to  be  "  right "  that  they  should  carry  them  on,  then,  by 
permutation,  we  get  the  assertion  that  they  "  have  a  right " 
to  carry  them  on.  Clearly  the  conception  of  "  natural  rights  " 
originates  in  recognition  of  the  truth  that  if  life  is  justifiable, 
there  must  be  a  justification  for  the  performance  of  acts  es- 
sential to  its  preservation  ;  and,  therefore,  a  justification  for 
those  liberties  and  claims  which  make  such  acts  possible. 

But  being  true  of  other  creatures  as  of  man,  this  is  a 
proposition  lacking  ethical  character.  Ethical  character  arises 
only  with  the  distinction  between  what  the  individual  may  do 
in  carrying  on  his  life-sustaining  activities,  and  what  he  may 
not  do.  This  distinction  obviously  results  from  the  presence 
of  his  fellows.  Among  those  who  are  in  close  proximity,  or 
even  some  distance  apart,  the  doings  of  each  are  apt  to  inter- 
fere with  the  doings  of  others ;  and  in  the  absence  of  proof 
that  some  may  do  what  they  will  without  limit,  while  others 
may  not,  mutual  limitation  is  necessitated.  The  non-ethical 
form  of  the  right  to  pursue  ends,  passes  into  the  ethical  form, 
when  there  is  recognized  the  difference  between  acts  which 
can  be  performed  without  transgressing  the  limits,  and  others 
which  cannot  be  so  performed. 

This,  which  is  the  a  priori  conclusion,  is  the  conclusion 
yielded  a  posteriori,  when  we  study  the  doings  of  the  un- 
civilized. In  its  vaguest  form,  mutual  limitation  of  spheres 
of  action,  and  the  ideas  and  the  sentiments  associated  with  it, 
are  seen  in  the  relations  of  groups  to  one  another.  Habitually 
there  come  to  be  established,  certain  bounds  to  the  territories 
within  which  each  tribe  obtains  its  livelihood ;  and  these 
bounds,  when  not  respected,  are  defended.  Among  the 
Wood-Veddahs,  who  have  no  political  organization,  the  small 
clans  have  their  respective  portions  of  forest;  and  "these 
conventional  allotments  are  always  honourably  recognized."  * 

*  Sir  J.  E.  Tennant,  Ceylon :  an  Account  of  the  Island,  &c.,  ii.  440. 


THE  GREAT   POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  399 

Of  the  ungoverned  tribes  of  Tasmania,  we  are  told  that 
"  their  hunting  grounds  were  all  determined,  and  trespassers 
were  liable  to  attack."  *  And,  manifestly,  the  quarrels  caused 
among  tribes  by  intrusions  on  one  another's  territories,  tend, 
in  the  long  run,  to  fix  bounds  and  to  give  a  certain  sanction 
to  them.  As  with  each  inhabited  area,  so  with  each  inhabit- 
ing group.  A  death  in  one,  rightly  or  wrongly  ascribed  to 
somebody .  in  another,  prompts  "  the  sacred  duty  of  blood- 
revenge  ; "  and  though  retaliations  are  thus  made  chronic, 
some  restraint  is  put  on  new  aggressions.  Like  causes  worked 
like  effects  in  those  early  stages  of  civilized  societies,  during 
which  families  or  clans,  rather  than  individuals,  were  the  po- 
litical units ;  and  during  which  each  family  or  clan  had  to 
maintain  itself  and  its  possessions  against  others  such.  These 
mutual  restraints,  which  in  the  nature  of  things  arise  between 
small  communities,  similarly  arise  between  individuals  in  each 
community ;  and  the  ideas  and  usages  appropriate  to  the  one 
are  more  or  less  appropriate  to  the  other.  Though  within 
each  group  there  is  ever  a  tendency  for  the  stronger  to  aggress 
on  the  weaker  ;  yet,  in  most  cases,  consciousness  of  the  evils 
resulting  from  aggressive  conduct  serves  to  restrain.  Every- 
where among  primitive  peoples,  trespasses  are  followed  by 
counter-trespasses.  Says  Turner  of  the  Tannese,  "  adultery 
and  some  other  crimes  are  kept  in  check  by  the  fear  of  club- 
law."  f  Fitzroy  tells  us  that  the  Patagonian,  "  if  he  does  not 
injure  or  offend  his  neighbour,  is  not  interfered  with  by 
others : "  \  personal  vengeance  being  the  penalty  for  injury. 
A\re  read  of  the  Uapes  that  "  they  have  very  little  law  of  any 
kind ;  but  what  they  have  is  of  strict  retaliation — an  eye  for 
an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth."  *  And  that  the  lex  talionis 
tends  to  establish  a  distinction  between  what  each  member  of 


*  J.  Bonwick,  Daily  Life  and  Origin  of  the  Tasmanians,  p.  83. 
f  Nineteen  Years  in  Polynesia,  p.  86. 

\  Voyages  of  the  Adventure  and  Beagle,  ii.  167. 

*  A.  R.  Wallace,  Travels  on  Amazon  and  Rio  Negro,  p.  499.- 


400  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

the  community  may  safely  do  and  what  he  may  not  safely  do, 
and  consequently  to  give  sanctions  to  actions  within  a  certain 
range  but  not  beyond  that  range,  is  obvious.  Though,  says 
Schoolcraft  of  the  Chippewayans,  they  "  have  no  regular 
government,  as  every  man  is  lord  in  his  own  family,  they  are 
influenced  more  or  less  by  certain  principles,  which  conduce 
to  their  general  benefit : "  *  one  of  the  principles  named  being 
recognition  of  private  property. 

How  mutual  limitation  of  activities  originates  the  ideas 
and  sentiments  implied  by  the  phrase  "  natural  rights,"  we 
are  shown  most  distinctly  by  the  few  peaceful  tribes  which 
have  either  nominal  governments  or  none  at  all.  Beyond 
those  facts  which  exemplify  scrupulous  regard  for  one  an- 
other's claims  among  the  Todas,  Santals,  Lepchas,  Bodo, 
Chakmas,  Jakuns,  Arafuras,  &c.,  we  have  the  fact  that  the 
utterly  uncivilized  Wood-Veddahs,  without  any  social  organ- 
ization at  all,  "  think  it  perfectly  inconceivable  that  any  per- 
son should  ever  take  that  which  does  not  belong  to  him,  or 
strike  his  fellow,  or  say  anything  that  is  untrue."  f  Thus  it  be- 
comes clear,  alike  from  analysis  of  causes  and  observation  of 
facts,  that  while  the  positive  element  in  the  right  to  carry  on 
life-sustaining  activities,  originates  from  the  laws  of  life, 
tliat  negative  element  which  gives  ethical  character  to  it, 
originates  from  the  conditions  produced  by  social  aggre- 
gation. 

So  alien  to  the  truth,  indeed,  is  the  alleged  creation  of 
rights  by  government,  that,  contrariwise,  rights  having  been 
established  more  or  less  clearly  before  government  arises, 
become  obscured  as  government  develops  along  with  that 
militant  activity  which,  both  by  the  taking  of  slaves  and  the 
establishment  of  ranks,  produces  status ;  and  the  recognition 
of  rights  begins  again  to  get  definiteness  only  as  fast  as 


*  H.  R.  Schoolcraft,  Expedition  to  the  Sources  of  the  Mississippi,  v.  177. 
t  B.  F.  Hartshorne  in  Fortnightly  Review,  March,  1876.    See  also  H.  C. 
Sirr,  Ceylon  and  Ceylonese,  ii.  219. 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  401 

militancy  ceases   to   be   chronic    and    governmental   power 
declines. 

"When  we  turn  from  the  life  of  the  individual  to  the  life 
of  the  society,  the  same  lesson  is  taught  us. 

Though  mere  love  of  companionship  prompts  primitive 
men  to  live  in  groups,  yet  the  chief  prompter  is  experience 
of  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  co-operation.  On  what 
condition  only  can  co-operation  arise?  Evidently  on  con- 
dition that  those  who  join  their  efforts  severally  gain  by 
doing  so.  If,  as  in  the  simplest  cases,  they  unite  to  achieve 
something  which  each  by  himself  cannot  achieve,  or  can 
achieve  less  readily,  it  must  be  on  the  tacit  understanding, 
either  that  they  shall  share  the  benefit  (as  when  game  is 
caught  by  a  party  of  them),  or  that  if  one  reaps  all  the  bene- 
fit now  (as  in  building  a  hut  or  clearing  a  plot),  the  others 
shall  severally  reap  equivalent  benefits  in  their  turns.  When, 
instead  of  efforts  joined  in  doing  the  same  thing,  different 
things  are  effected  by  them — when  division  of  labour  arises, 
with  accompanying  barter  of  products,  the  arrangement 
implies  that  each,  in  return  for  something  which  he  has  in 
superfluous  quantity,  gets  an  approximate  equivalent  of 
something  which  he  wants.  If  he  hands  over  the  one  and 
does  not  get  the  other,  future  proposals  to  exchange  will 
meet  with  no  response.  There  will  be  a  reversion  to  that 
rudest  condition  in  which  each  makes  everything  for  himself. 
Hence  the  possibility  of  co-operation  depends  on  fulfilment 
of  contract,  tacit  or  overt. 

Now  this  which  we  see  must  hold  of  the  very  first  step 
towards  that  industrial  organization  by  which  the  life  of  a 
society  is  maintained,  must  hold  more  or  less  fully  through- 
out its  development.  Though  the  militant  type  of  organiza- 
tion, with  its  system  of  status  produced  by  chronic  war, 
greatly  obscures  these  relations  of  contracts,  yet  they  remain 
partially  in  force.  They  still  hold  between  freemen,  and 
between  the  heads  of  those  small  groups  which  form  the 


402  THE  MAN  VEKSUS  THE  STATE. 

units  of  early  societies ;  and,  in  a  measure,  they  still  hold 
within  these  small  groups  themselves ;  since  survival  of 
them  as  groups,  implies  such  recognition  of  the  claims  of 
their  members,  even  when  slaves,  that  in  return  for  their 
labours  they  get  sufficiencies  of  food,  clothing,  and  protection. 
And  when,  with  diminution  of  warfare  and  growth  of  trade, 
voluntary  co-operation  more  and  more  replaces  compulsory 
co-operation,  and  the  carrying  on  of  social  life  by  exchange 
under  agreement,  partially  suspended  for  a  time,  gradually 
re-establishes  itself ;  its  re-establishment  makes  possible  that 
vast  elaborate  industrial  organization  by  which  a  great  nation 
is  sustained. 

For  in  proportion  as  contracts  are  unhindered  and  the  per- 
formance of  them  certain,  the  growth  is  great  and  the  social 
life  active.  It  is  not  now  by  one  or  other  of  two  individuals 
who  contract,  that  the  evil  effects  of  breach  of  contract  are 
experienced.  In  an  advanced  society,  they  are  experienced 
by  entire  classes  of  producers  and  distributors,  which  have 
arisen  through  division  of  labor ;  and,  eventually,  they  are 
experienced  by  everybody.  Ask  on  what  condition  it  is  that 
Birmingham  devotes  itself  to  manufacturing  hardware,  or 
part  of  Staffordshire  to  making  pottery,  or  Lancashire  to 
weaving  cotton.  Ask  how  the  rural  people  who  here  grow 
wheat  and  there  pasture  cattle,  find  it  possible  to  occupy 
themselves  in  their  special  businesses.  These  groups  can 
severally  thus  act  only  if  each  gets  from  the  others  in 
exchange  for  its  own  surplus  product,  due  shares  of  their 
surplus  products.  No  longer  directly  effected  by  barter,  this 
obtainment  of  their  respective  shares  of  one  another's  prod- 
ucts is  indirectly  effected  by  money ;  and  if  we  ask  how 
each  division  of  producers  gets  its  due  amount  of  the  required 
money,  the  answer  is — by  fulfilment  of  contract.  If  Leeds 
makes  woollens  and  does  not,  by  fulfilment  of  contract, 
receive  the  means  of  obtaining  from  agricultural  districts  the 
needful  quantity  of  food,  it  must  starve,  and  stop  producing 
woollens.  If  South  "Wales  smelts  iron  and  there  comes  no 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  403 

equivalent  agreed  upon,  enabling  it  to  get  fabrics  for  clothing, 
its  industry  must  cease.  And  so  throughout,  in  general  and 
in  detail.  That  mutual  dependence  of  parts  which  we  see  in 
social  organization,  as  in  individual  organization,  is  possible 
only  on  condition  that  while  each  other  part  does  the  particu- 
lar kind  of  work  it  has  become  adjusted  to,  it  receives  its 
proportion  of  those  materials  required  for  repair  and  growth, 
which  all  the  other  parts  have  joined  to  produce  :  such  pro- 
portion being  settled  by  bargaining.  Moreover,  it  is  by  ful- 
filment of  contract  that  there  is  effected  a  balancing  of  all 
the  various  products  to  the  various  needs — the  large  manu- 
facture of  knives  and  the  small  manufacture  of  lancets ;  the 
great  growth  of  wheat  and  the  little  growth  of  mustard-seed. 
The  check  on  undue  production  of  each  commodity,  results 
from  finding  that,  after  a  certain  quantity,  no  one  will  agree 
to  take  any  further  quantity  on  terms  that  yield  an  adequate 
money  equivalent.  And  so  there  is  prevented  a  useless 
expenditure  of  labour  in  producing  that  which  society  does 
not  want. 

Lastly,  we  have  to  note  the  still  more  significant  fact  that 
the  condition  under  which  only,  any  specialized  group  of 
workers  can  grow  when  the  community  needs  more  of  its 
particular  kind  of  work,  is  that  contracts  shall  be  free  and 
fulfilment  of  them  enforced.  If  when,  from  lack  of  mate- 
rial, Lancashire  failed  to  supply  the  usual  quantity  of  cotton- 
goods,  there  had  been  such  interference  with  the  contracts  as 
prevented  Yorkshire  from  asking  a  greater  price  for  its 
woollens,  which  it  was  enabled  to  do  by  the  greater  demand 
for  them,  there  would  have  been  no  temptation  to  put  more 
capital  into  the  woollen  manufacture,  no  increase  in  the 
amount  of  machinery  and  number  of  artisans  employed,  and 
no  increase  of  woollens :  the  consequence  being  that  the 
whole  community  would  have  suffered  from  not  having 
deficient  cottons  replaced  by  extra  woollens.  "What  serious 
injury  may  result  to  a  nation  if  its  members  are  hindered 
from  contracting  with  one  another,  was  well  shown  in  the 


404  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

contrast  between  England  and  France  in  respect  of  railways. 
Here,  though  obstacles  were  at  first  raised  by  classes  pre- 
dominant in  the  legislature,  the  obstacles  were  not  such  as 
prevented  capitalists  from  investing,  engineers  from  furnish- 
ing directive  skill,  or  contractors  from  undertaking  works ; 
and  the  high  interest  originally  obtained  on  investments,  the 
great  profits  made  by  contractors,  and  the  large  payments 
received  by  engineers,  led  to  that  drafting  of  money,  energy, 
and  ability,  into  railway-making,  which  rapidly  developed 
our  railway-system,  to  the  enormous  increase  of  our  national 
prosperity.  But  when  M.  Thiers,  then  Minister  of  Public 
Works,  came  over  to  inspect,  and  having  been  'taken  about 
by  Mr.  Yignoles,  said  to  him  when  leaving  : — "  I  do  not  think 
railways  are  suited  to  France,"*  there  resulted,  from  the 
consequent  policy  of  hindering  free  contract,  a  delay  of 
"  eight  or  ten  years  "  in  that  material  progress  which  France 
experienced  when  railways  were  made. 

What  do  these  facts  mean?  They  mean  that  for  the 
healthful  activity  and  due  proportioning  of  those  industries, 
occupations  and  professions,  which  maintain  and  aid  the  life 
of  a  society,  there  must,  in  the  first  place,  be  few  restrictions 
on  men's  liberties  to  make  agreements  with  one  another,  and 
there  must,  in  the  second  place,  be  an  enforcement  of  the 
agreements  which  they  do  make.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
checks  naturally  arising  to  each  man's  actions  when  men 
become  associated,  are  those  only  which  result  from  mutual 
limitation  ;  and  there  consequently  can  be  no  resulting  check 
to  the  contracts  they  voluntarily  make :  interference  with 
these  is  interference  with  those  rights  to  free  action  which 
remain  to  each  when  the  rights  of  others  are  fully  recognized. 
And  then,  as  we  have  seen,  enforcement  of  their  rights 
implies  enforcement  of  contracts  made  ;  since  breach  of  con- 
tract is  indirect  aggression.  If,  when  a  customer  on  one  side 

*  Address  of  C.  B.  Vignoles,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  on  his  election  as  President 
of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  Session  1869-70,  p.  53. 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  405 

of  the  counter  asks  a  shopkeeper  on  the  other  for  a  shilling's 
worth  of  his  goods,  and,  while  the  shopkeeper's  back  is 
turned,  walks  off  with  the  goods  without  leaving  the  shilling 
he  tacitly  contracted  to  give,  his  act  differs  in  no  essential 
way  from  robbery.  In  each  such  case  the  individual  injured 
is  deprived  of  something  he  possessed,  without  receiving  the 
equivalent  something  bargained  for ;  and  is  in  the  state  of 
having  expended  his  labour  without  getting  benefit — has 
had  an  essential  condition  to  the  maintenance  of  life  in- 
fringed. 

Thus,  then,  it  results  that  to  recognize  and  enforce  the 
rights  of  individuals,  is  at  the  same  time  to  recognize  and 
enforce  the  conditions  to  a  normal  social  life.  There  is  one 
vital  requirement  for  both. 

Before  turning  to  those  corollaries  which  have  practical 
applications,  let  us  observe  how  the  special  conclusions 
drawn  converge  to  the  one  general  conclusion  originally 
foreshadowed — glancing  at  them  in  reversed  order. 

We  have  just  found  that  the  pre-requisite  to  individual 
life  is  in  a  double  sense  the  pre-requisite  to  social  life.  The 
life  of  a  society,  in  whichever  of  two  senses  conceived, 
depends  on  maintenance  of  individual  rights.  If  it  is 
nothing  more  than  the  sum  of  the  lives .  of  citizens,  this 
implication  is  obvious.  If  it  consists  of  those  many  unlike 
activities  which  citizens  carry  on  in  mutual  dependence,  still 
this  aggregate  impersonal  life  rises  or  falls  according  as  the 
rights  of  individuals  are  enforced  or  denied. 

Study  of  men's  politico-ethical  ideas  and  sentiments,  leads 
to  allied  conclusions.  Primitive  peoples  of  various  types 
show  us  that  before  governments  exist,  immemorial  customs 
recognize  private  claims  and  justify  maintenance  of  them. 
Codes  of  law  independently  evolved  by  different  nations, 
agree  in  forbidding  certain  trespasses  on  the  persons,  prop- 
erties, and  liberties  of  citizens ;  and  their  correspondences 
imply,  not  an  artificial  source  for  individual  rights,  but  a 


406      ,"   THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

natural  source.  Along  with  social  development,  the  formu- 
lating in  law  of  the  rights  pre-established  by  custom,  becomes 
more  definite  and  elaborate.  At  the  same  time,  Government 
undertakes  to  ail  increasing  extent  the  business  of  enforcing 
them.  While  it  has  been  becoming  a  better  protector, 
Government  has  been  becoming  less  aggressive — has  more 
and  more  diminished  its  intrusions  on  men's  spheres  of 
private  action.  And,  Iastlv5  as  in  past  times  laws  were 
avowedly  modified  to  fit  better  with  current  ideas  of  equity ; 
so  now,  law-reformers  are  guided  by  ideas  of  equity  which 
are  not  derived  from  law  but  to  which  law  has  to  conform. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  politico-ethical  theory  justified  alike 
by  analysis  and  by  history.  What  have  we  against  it  ?  A 
fashionable  counter-theory,  purely  dogmatic,  which  proves  to 
be  unjustifiable.  On  the  one  hand,  while  we  find  that  indi- 
vidual life  and  social  life  both  imply  maintenance  of  the 
natural  relation  between  efforts  and  benefits ;  we  also  find 
that  this  natural  relation,  recognized  before  Government 
existed,  has  been  all  along  asserting  and  re-asserting  itself, 
and  obtaining  better  recognition  in  codes  of  law  and  systems 
of  ethics.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who,  denying  natural 
rights,  commit  themselves  to  the  assertion  that  rights  are  arti- 
ficially created  by  law,  are  not  only  flatly  contradicted  by 
facts,  but  their  assertion  is  self-destructive :  the  endeavour 
to  substantiate  it,  when  challenged,  involves  them  in  manifold 
absurdities. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  re-institution  of  a  vague  popular  con- 
ception in  a  definite  form  on  a  scientific  basis,  leads  us  to  a 
rational  view  of  the  relation  between  the  wills  of  majorities 
and  minorities.  It  turns  out  that  those  co-operations  in 
which  all  can  voluntarily  unite,  and  in  the  carrying  on  of 
which  the  will  of  the  majority  is  rightly  supreme,  are  co- 
operations for  maintaining  the  conditions  requisite  to  indi- 
vidual and  social  life.  Defence  of  the  society  as  a  whole 
against  external  invaders,  has  for  its  remote  end  to  preserve 
each  citizen  in  possession  of  such  means  as  he  has  for  satisfy- 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  407 

ing  his  desires,  and  in  possession  of  such  liberty  as  he  has  for 
getting  further  means.  And  defence  of  each  citizen  against 
internal  invaders,  from  murderers  down  to  those  who  inflict 
nuisances  on  their  neighbours,  has  obviously  the  like  end — 
an  end  desired  by  every  one  save  the  criminal  and  disorderly. 
Hence  it  follows  that  for  maintenance  of  this  vital  principle, 
alike  of  individual  life  and  social  life,  subordination  of 
minority  to  majority  is  legitimate ;  as  implying  only  such  a 
trenching  on  the  freedom  and  property  of  each,  as  is  requisite 
for  the  better  protecting  of  his  freedom  and  property.  At 
the  same  time  it  follows  that  such  subordination  is  not  legiti- 
mate beyond  this ;  since,  implying  as  it  does  a  greater  aggres- 
sion upon  the  individual  than  is  requisite  for  protecting  him, 
it  involves  a  breach  of  the  vital  principle  which  is  to  be 
maintained. 

Thus  we  come  round  again  to  the  proposition  that  the 
assumed  divine  right  of  parliaments,  and  the  implied  divine 
right  of  majorities,  are  superstitions.  "While  men  have 
abandoned  the  old  theory  respecting  the  source  of  State- 
authority,  they  have  retained  a  belief  in  that  unlimited  ex- 
tent of  State-authority  which  rightly  accompanied  the  old 
theory,  but  does  not  rightly  accompany  the  new  one.  Unre- 
stricted power  over  subjects,  rationally  ascribed  to  the  ruling 
man  when  he  was  held  to  be  a  deputy-god,  is  now  ascribed 
to  the  ruling  body,  the  deputy-godhood  of  which  nobody 
asserts. 

Opponents  will,  possibly,  contend  that  discussions  about 
the  origin  and  limits  of  governmental  authority  are  mere 
pedantries.  "  Government,"  they  may  perhaps  say,  "  is 
bound  to  use  all  the  means  it  has,  or  can  get,  for  furthering 
the  general  happiness.  Its  aim  must  be  utility ;  and  it  is 
warranted  in  employing  whatever  measures  are  needful  for 
achieving  useful  ends.  The  welfare  of  the  people  is  the 
supreme  law  ;  and  legislators  are  not  to  be  deterred  from 
obeying  that  law  by  questions  concerning  the  source  and 


403  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

range  of  their  power."  Is  there  really  an  escape  here  ?  or 
may  this  opening  be  effectually  closed  ? 

The  essential  question  raised  is  the  truth  of  the  utilitarian 
theory  as  commonly  held;  and  the  answer  here  to  be  given 
is  that,  as  commonly  held,  it  is  not  true.  Alike  by  the  state- 
ments of  utilitarian  moralists,  and  by  the  acts  of  politicians 
knowingly  or  unknowingly  following  their  lead,  it  is  implied 
that  utility  is  to  be  directly  determined  by  simple  inspection 
of  the  immediate  facts  and  estimation  of  probable  results. 
Whereas,  utilitarianism  as  rightly  understood,  implies  guid- 
ance by  the  general  conclusions  which  analysis  of  experience 
yields.  "  Good  and  bad  results  cannot  be  accidental,  but 
must  be  necessary  consequences  of  the  constitution  of  things ; " 
and  it  is  "  the  business  of  Moral  Science  to  deduce,  from  the 
laws  of  life  and  the  conditions  of  existence,  what  kinds  of 
action  necessarily  tend  to  produce  happiness,  and  what  kinds 
to  produce  unhappiness."  *  Current  utilitarian  speculation, 
like  current  practical  politics,  shows  inadequate  conscious- 
ness of  natural  causation.  The  habitual  thought  is  that,  in 
the  absence  of  some  obvious  impediment,  things  can  be  done 
this  way  or  that  way ;  and  no  question  is  put  whether  there 
is  either  agreement  or  conflict  with  the  normal  working  of 
things. 

The  foregoing  discussions  have,  I  think,  shown  that  the 
dictates  of  utility,  and,  consequently,  the  proper  actions  of 
governments,  are  not  to  be  settled  by  inspection  of  facts  on 
the  surface,  and  acceptance  of  their  prima  facie  meanings  ; 
but  are  to  be  settled  by  reference  to,  and  deductions  from, 
fundamental  facts.  The  fundamental  facts  to  which  all 
rational  judgments  of  utility  must  go  back,  are  the  facts  that 
life  consists  in,  and  is  maintained  by,  certain  activities ;  and 
that  among  men  in  a  society,  these  activities,  necessarily 
becoming  mutually  limited,  are  to  be  carried  on  by  each 
within  the  limits  thence  arising,  and  not  carried  on  beyond 

*  Data  of  Ethics,  %  21.    See  also  §§  56-62. 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  409 

those  limits:  the  maintenance  of  the  limits  becoming,  by 
consequence,  the  function  of  the  agency  which  regulates  so- 
ciety. If  each,  having  freedom  to  use  his  powers  up  to  the 
bounds  fixed  by  the  like  freedom  of  others,  obtains  from  his 
fellow-men  as  much  for  his  services  as  they  find  them  worth 
in  comparison  with  the  services  of  others — if  contracts  uni- 
formly fulfilled  bring  to  each  the  share  thus  determined,  and 
he  is  left  secure  in  person  and  possessions  to  satisfy  his 
wants  with  the  proceeds ;  then  there  is  maintained  the  vital 
principle  alike  of  individual  life  and  of  social  life.  Further, 
there  is  maintained  the  vital  principle  of  social  progress ;  in- 
asmuch as,  under  such  conditions,  the  individuals  of  most 
worth  will  prosper  and  multiply  more  than  those  of  less 
worth.  So  that  utility,  not  as  empirically  estimated  but  as 
rationally  determined,  enjoins  this  maintenance  of  individual 
rights;  and,  by  implication,  negatives  any  course  which 
traverses  them. 

Here,  then,  we  reach  the  ultimate  interdict  against  med- 
dling legislation.  Reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  every  pro- 
posal to  interfere  with  citizens'  activities  further  than  by  en- 
forcing their  mutual  limitations,  is  a  proposal  to  improve  life 
by  breaking  through  the  fundamental  conditions  to  life; 
When  some  are  prevented  from  buying  beer  that  others  may 
be  prevented  from  getting  drunk,  those  who  make  the  law 
assume  that  more  good  than  evil  will  result  from  interference 
with  the  normal  relation  between  conduct  and  consequences, 
alike  in  the  few  ill-regulated  and  the  many  well-regulated. 
A  government  which  takes  fractions  of  the  incomes  of  mul- 
titudinous people,  for  the  purpose  of  sending  to  the  colonies 
some  who  have  not  prospered  here,  or  for  building  better  in- 
dustrial dwellings,  or  for  making  public  libraries  and  public 
museums,  &c.,  takes  for  granted  that,  not  only  proximately 
but  ultimately,  increased  general  happiness  will  result  from 
transgressing  the  essential  requirement  to  general  happiness 
— the  requirement  that  each  shall  enjoy  all  those  means  to 
happiness  which  his  actions,  carried  on  without  aggression, 


410  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

have  brought  him.  In  other  cases  we  do  not  thus  let  the 
immediate  blind  us  to  the  remote.  "When  asserting  the  sa- 
credness  of  property  against  private  transgressors,  we  do  not 
ask  whether  the  benefit  to  a  hungry  man  who  takes  bread 
from  a  baker's  shop,  is  or  is  not  greater  than  the  injury  in- 
flicted on  the  baker :  we  consider,  not  the  special  effects,  but 
the  general  effects  which  arise  if  property  is  insecure.  But 
when  the  State  exacts  further  amounts  from  citizens,  or  fur- 
ther restrains  their  liberties,  we  consider  only  the  direct  and 
proximate  effects,  and  ignore  the  direct  and  distant  effects. 
We  do  not  see  that  by  accumulated  small  infractions  of 
them,  the  vital  conditions  to  life,  individual  and  social,  come 
to  be  so  imperfectly  fulfilled  that  the  life  decays. 

Yet  the  decay  thus  caused  becomes  manifest  where  the 
policy  is  pushed  to  an  extreme.  Any  one  who  studies,  in  the 
writings  of  MM.  Taine  and  de  Tocqueville,  the  state  of 
things  which  preceded  the  French  Revolution,  will  see  that 
that  tremendous  catastrophe  came  about  from  so  excessive  a 
regulation  of  men's  actions  in  all  their  details,  and  such  an 
enormous  drafting  away  of  the  products  of  their  actions  to 
maintain  the  regulating  organization,  that  life  was  fast  be- 
coming impracticable.  The  empirical  utilitarianism  of  that 
day,  like  the  empirical  utiliarianism  of  our  day,  differed 
from  rational  utilitarianism  in  this,  that  in  each  successive 
case  it  contemplated  only  the  effects  of  particular  interfer- 
ences on  the  actions  of  particular  classes  of  men,  and 
ignored  the  effects  produced  by  a  multiplicity  of  such  inter- 
ferences on  the  lives  of  men  at  large.  And  if  we  ask  what 
then  made,  and  what  now  makes,  this  error  possible,  we  find 
it  to  be  the  political  superstition  that  governmental  power  is 
subject  to  no  restraints. 

When  that  "  divinity  "  which  "  doth  hedge  a  king,"  and 
which  has  left  a  glamour  around  the  body  inheriting  his 
power,  has  quite  died  away — when  it  begins  to  be  seen 
clearly  that,  in  a  popularly  governed  nation,  the  government 
is  simply  a  committee  of  management ;  it  will  also  be  seen 


THE  GREAT  POLITICAL  SUPERSTITION.  41 1 

that  this  committee  of  management  has  no  intrinsic  authori- 
ty. The  inevitable  conclusion  will  be  that  its  authority  is 
given  by  those  appointing  it ;  and  has  just  such  bounds  as 
they  choose  to  impose.  Along  with  this  will  go  the  further 
conclusion  that  the  laws  it  passes  are  not  in  themselves  sa- 
cred ;  but  that  whatever  sacredness  they  have,  it  is  entirely 
due  to  the  ethical  sanction — an  ethical  sanction  which,  as  we 
find,  is  derivable  from  the  laws  of  human  life  as  carried  on 
under  social  conditions.  And  there  will  come  the  corollary 
that  when  they  have  not  this  ethical  sanction  they  have  no 
sacredness,  and  may  rightly  be  challenged. 

The  function  of  Liberalism  in  the  past  was  that  of  putting 
a  limit  to  the  powers  of  kings.  The  function  of  true  Liber- 
alism in  the  future  will  be  that  of  putting  a  limit  to  the  pow- 
ers of  Parliaments. 


POSTSCEIPT. 

(Added  when  the  foregoing  Chapters  were  first  re-published.) 

"  Do  I  expect  this  doctrine  to  meet  with  any  considerable 
acceptance  ? "  I  wish  I  could  say,  yes ;  but  unhappily  various 
reasons  oblige  me  to  conclude  that  only  here  and  there  a 
solitary  citizen  may  have  his  political  creed  modified.  Of 
these  reasons  there  is  one  from  which  all  the  others  originate. 

This  essential  reason  is  that  the  restriction  of  govern- 
mental power  within  the  limits  assigned,  is  appropriate  to 
the  industrial  type  of  society  only ;  and,  while  wholly  incon- 
gruous with  the  militant  type  of  society,  is  partially  incon- 
gruous with  that  semi-militant  semi-industrial  type,  which 
now  characterizes  advanced  nations.  At  every  stage  of  social 
evolution  there  must  exist  substantial  agreement  between 
practices  and  beliefs — real  beliefs  I  mean,  not  nominal  ones. 
Life  can  be  carried  on  only  by  the  harmonizing  of  thoughts 
and  acts.  Either  the  conduct  required  by  circumstances 
must  modify  the  sentiments  and  ideas  to  fit  it ;  or  else  the 
changed  sentiments  and  ideas  must  eventually  modify  the 
conduct. 

Hence  if  the  maintenance  of  social  life  under  one  set  of 
conditions,  necessitates  extreme  subordination  to  a  ruler  and 
entire  faith  in  him,  there  will  be  established  a  theory  that 
the  subordination  and  the  faith  are  proper — nay  imperative. 
Conversely  if,  under  other  conditions,  great  subjection  of 


POSTSCRIPT.  413 

citizens  to  government  is  no  longer  needful  for  preservation 
of  the  national  life — if,  contrariwise,  the  national  life  becomes 
larger  in  amount  and  higher  in  quality  as  fast  as  citizens 
gain  increased  freedom  of  action  ;  there  comes  a  progressive 
modification  of  their  political  theory,  having  the  result  of 
diminishing  their  faith  in  governmental  action,  increasing 
their  tendency  to  question  governmental  authority,  and  lead- 
ing them  in  more  numerous  cases  to  resist  governmental 
power :  involving,  eventually,  an  established  doctrine  of 
limitation. 

Thus  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  current  opinion  respect- 
ing governmental  authority,  can  at  present  be  modified  to 
any  great  extent.  But  let  us  look  at  the  necessities  of  the 
case  more  closely. 

Manifestly  the  success  of  an  army  depends  very  much  on 
the  faith  of  the  soldiers  in  their  general :  disbelief  in  his 
ability  will  go  far  towards  paralyzing  them  in  battle ;  while 
absolute  confidence  in  him  will  make  them  fulfil  their 
respective  parts  with  courage  and  energy.  If,  as  in  the 
normally-developed  militant  type  of  society,  the  leader  in 
war  and  the  ruler  in  peace  are  one  and  the  same,  this  con- 
fidence in  him  extends  from  military  action  to  civil  action  ; 
and  the  society,  in  large  measure  identical  with  the  army, 
willingly  accepts  his  judgments  as  law-giver.  Even  where 
the  civil  head,  ceasing  to  be  the  military  head,  does  his  gen- 
eralship by  deputy,  there  still  clings  to  him  the  traditional  faith. 

As  with  faith  so  with  obedience.  Other  things  equal  an 
army  of  insubordinate  soldiers  fails  before  an  army  of  sub- 
ordinate soldiers.  Those  whose  obedience  to  their  leader  is 
perfect  and  prompt,  are  obviously  more  likely  to  succeed  in 
battle  than  are  those  who  disregard  the  commands  issued  to 
them.  And  as  with  the  army  so  with  the  society  as  a  whole ; 
success  in  war  must  largely  depend  on  that  conformity  to  the 
ruler's  will  which  brings  men  and  money  when  wanted,  and 

adiusts  all  conduct  to  his  needs. 
J  27 


414        THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

Thus  by  survival  of  the  fittest,  the  militant  type  of  society 
becomes  characterized  by  profound  confidence  in  the  govern- 
ing power,  joined  with  a  loyalty  causing  submission  to  it  in 
all  matters  whatever.  And  there  must  tend  to  be  established 
among  those  who  speculate  about  political  affairs  in  a  militant 
society,  a  theory  giving  form  to  the  needful  ideas  and  feel- 
ings; accompanied  by  assertions  that  the  law-giver  if  not 
divine  in  nature  is  divinely  directed,  and  that  unlimited  obedi- 
ence to  him  is  divinely  ordered. 

Change  in  the  ideas  and  feelings  which  thus  become  char- 
acteristic of  the  militant  form  of  organization,  can  take 
place  only  where  circumstances  favour  development  of  the 
industrial  form  of  organization.  Being  carried  on  by  volun- 
tary co-operation  instead  of  by  compulsory  co-operation, 
industrial  life  as  we  know  it,  habituates  men  to  independent 
activities,  leads  them  to  enforce  their  own  claims  while 
respecting  the  claims  of  others,  strengthens  the  consciousness 
of  personal  rights,  and  prompts  them  to  resist  excesses  of 
governmental  control.  But  since  the  circumstances  which 
render  war  less  frequent  arise  but  slowly,  and  since  the 
modifications  of  nature  caused  by  the  transition  from  a  life 
predominantly  militant  to  a  life  predominantly  industrial  can 
therefore  go  on  but  slowly,  it  happens  that  the  old  sentiments 
and  ideas  give  place  to  new  ones,  by  small  degrees  only.  And 
there  are  several  reasons  why  the  transition  not  only  is,  but 
ought  to  be,  gradual.  Here  are  some  of  them. 

In  the  primitive  man  and  in  man  but  little  civilized,  there 
does  not  exist  the  nature  required  for  extensive  voluntary 
co-operations.  Efforts  willingly  united  with  those  of  others 
for  a  common  advantage,  imply,  if  the  undertaking  is  large, 
a  perseverance  he  does  not  possess.  Moreover,  where  the 
benefits  to  be  achieved  are  distant  and  unfamiliar,  as  are 
many  for  which  men  now-a-days  combine,  there  needs  a 
strength  of  constructive  imagination  not  to  be  found  in  the 
minds  of  the  uncivilized.  And  yet  again,  great  combinations 


POSTSCRIPT.  415 

of  a  private  kind  for  wholesale  production  or  for  large  enter- 
prises, require  a  graduated  subordination  of  the  united 
workers — a  graduated  subordination  such  as  that  which 
militancy  produces.  In  other  words,  the  way  to  the  de- 
veloped industrial  type  as  we  now  know  it,  is  through  the 
militant  type ;  which,  by  discipline  generates  in  long  ages 
the  power  of  continuous  application,  the  willingness  to  act 
under  direction  (now  no  longer  coercive  but  agreed  to  under 
contract)  and  the  habit  of  achieving  large  results  by  organiza- 
tions. 

The  implication  is  that,  during  long  stages  of  social  evolu- 
tion there  needs,  for  the  management  of  all  matters  but  the 
simplest,  a  governmental  power  great  in  degree  and  wide  in 
range,  with  a  correlative  faith  in  it  and  obedience  to  it. 
Hence  the  fact  that,  as  the  records  of  early  civilizations  show 
us,  and  as  we  are  shown  in  the  East  at  present,  large  under- 
takings can  be  achieved  only  by  State-action.  And  hence  the 
fact  that  only  little  by  little  can  voluntary  co-operation  re- 
place compulsory  co-operation,  and  rightly  bring  about  a 
correlative  decrease  of  faith  in  governmental  ability  and 
authority. 

Chiefly,  however,  the  maintenance  of  this  faith  is  neces- 
sitated by  the  maintenance  of  fitness  for  war.  This  involves 
continuance  of  such  confidence  in  the  ruling  agency,  and  such 
subordination  to  it,  as  may  enable  it  to  wield  all  the  forces 
of  the  society  on  occasions  of  attack  or  defence ;  and  there 
must  survive  a  political  theory  justifying  the  faith  and  the 
obedience.  While  their  sentiments  and  ideas  are  of  kinds 
which  perpetually  endanger  peace,  it  is  requisite  that  men 
should  have  such  belief  in  the  authority  of  government  as 
shall  give  it  adequate  coercive  power  over  them  for  war  pur- 
poses— a  belief  in  its  authority  which  inevitably,  at  the  same 
time,  gives  it  coercive  power  over  them  for  other  purposes. 

Thus,  as  said  at  first,  the  fundamental  reason  for  not  ex- 
pecting much  acceptance  of  the  doctrine  set  forth,  is  that  we 


416  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

have  at  present  but  partially  emerged  from  the  militant 
regime  and  have  but  partially  entered  on  that  industrial 
regime  to  which  this  doctrine  is  proper. 

So  long  as  the  religion  of  enmity  predominates  over  the 
religion  of  amity,  the  current  political  superstition  must  hold 
its  ground.  While  throughout  Europe,  the  early  culture  of 
the  ruling  classes  is  one  which  every  day  of  the  week  holds 
up  for  admiration  those  who  in  ancient  times  achieved  the 
greatest  feats  in  battle,  and  only  on  Sunday  repeats  the  in- 
junction to  put  up  the  sword — while  these  ruling  classes  are 
subject  to  a  moral  discipline  consisting  of  six-sevenths  pagan 
example  and  one-seventh  Christian  precept ;  there  is  no  likeli- 
hood that  there  will  arise  such  international  relations  as  may 
make  a  decline  in  governmental  power  practicable,  and  a 
corresponding  modification  of  political  theory  acceptable. 
While  among  ourselves  the  administration  of  colonial  affairs 
is  such  that  native  tribes  who  retaliate  on  Englishmen  by 
whom  they  have  been  injured,  are  punished,  not  on  their  own 
savage  principle  of  life  for  life,  but  on  the  improved  civilized 
principle  of  wholesale  massacre  in  return  for  single  murder, 
there  is  little  chance  that  a  political  doctrine  consistent  only 
with  unaggressive  conduct  will  gain  currency.  While  the 
creed  men  profess  is  so  interpreted  that  one  of  them  who  at 
home  addresses  missionary  meetings,  seeks,  when  abroad,  to 
foment  a  quarrel  with  an  adjacent  people  whom  he  wishes  to 
subjugate,  and  then  receives  public  honours  after  his  death, 
it  is  not  likely  that  the  relations  of  our  society  to  other  soci- 
eties will  become  such  that  there  can  spread  to  any  extent  that 
doctrine  of  limited  governmental  functions  which  accompa- 
nies the  diminished  governmental  authority  proper  to  a 
peaceful  state.  A  nation  which,  interested  in  ecclesiastical 
squabbles  about  the  ceremonies  of  its  humane  cult,  cares  so 
little  about  the  essence  of  that  cult  that  filibustering  in  its 
colonies  receives  applause  rather  than  reprobation,  and  is  not 
denounced  even  by  the  priests  of  its  religion  of  love,  is  a 
nation  which  must  continue  to  suffer  from  internal  aggres- 


POSTSCRIPT.  417 

sions,  alike  of  all  individuals  on  one  another  and  of  the  State 
on  individuals.  It  is  impossible  to  unite  the  blessings  of 
equity  at  home  with  the  commission  of  inequities  abroad. 

Of  course  there  will  arise  the  question — Why,  then,  enun- 
ciate and  emphasize  a  theory  at  variance  with  the  theory 
adapted  to  our  present  state  ? 

Beyond  the  general  reply  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  one 
who  regards  a  doctrine  as  true  and  important,  to  do  what  he 
can  towards  diffusing  it,  leaving  the  result  to  be  what  it  may, 
there  are  several  more  special  replies,  each  of  which  is  suf- 
ficient. 

In  the  first  place  an  ideal,  far  in  advance  of  practicability 
though  it  may  be,  is  always  needful  for  right  guidance.  If, 
amid  all  those  compromises  which  the  circumstances  of  the 
times  necessitates,  or  are  thought  to  necessitate,  there  exist  no 
true  conceptions  of  better  and  worse  in  social  organizations — 
if  nothing  beyond  the  exigencies  of  the  moment  are  attended 
to,  and  the  proximately  best  is  habitually  identified  with  the 
ultimately  best ;  there  cannot  be  any  true  progress.  How- 
ever distant  may  be  the  goal,  and  however  often  intervening 
obstacles  may  necessitate  deviation  in  our  course  towards  it, 
it  is  obviously  requisite  to  know  whereabouts  it  lies. 

Again,  while  something  like  the  present  degree  of  subjec- 
tion of  the  individual  to  the  State,  and  something  like  the 
current  political  theory  adapted  to  it,  may  remain  needful  in 
presence  of  existing  international  relations ;  it  is  by  no  means 
needful  that  this  subjection  should  be  made  greater  and  the 
adapted  theory  strengthened.  In  our  days  of  active  philan- 
thropy, hosts  of  people  eager  to  achieve  benefits  for  their  less 
fortunate  fellows  by  what  seem  the  shortest  methods,  are 
busily  occupied  in  developing  administrative  arrangements  of 
a  kind  proper  to  a  lower  type  of  society — are  bringing  about 
retrogression  while  aiming  at  progression.  The  normal  dif- 
ficulties in  the  way  of  advance  are  sufficiently  great,  and  it  is 
lamentable  that  they  should  be  made  greater.  Hence,  some- 


418  THE  MAN   VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

thing  well  worth  doing  may  be  done,  if  philanthropists  can 
be  shown  that  they  are  in  many  cases  insuring  the  future  ill- 
being  of  men  while  eagerly  pursuing  their  present  well- 
being. 

Chiefly,  however,  it  is  important  to  press  on  all  the  great 
truth,  at  present  but  little  recognized,  that  a  society's  internal 
and  external  policies  are  so  bound  together,  that  there  can- 
not be  an  essential  improvement  of  the  one  without  an  essen- 
tial improvement  of  the  other.  A  higher  standard  of  inter- 
national justice  must  be  habitually  acted  upon,  before  there 
can  be  conformity  to  a  higher  standard  of  justice  in  our 
national  arrangements.  The  conviction  that  a  dependence  of 
this  kind  exists,  could  it  be  diffused  among  civilized  peoples, 
would  greatly  check  aggressive  behaviour  towards  one  another ; 
and,  by  doing  this,  would  diminish  the  coerciveness  of  their 
governmental  systems  while  appropriately  changing  their  po- 
litical theories. 


NOTE. 

[Tn  some  of  the  criticisms  on  this  work,  there  has  re- 
appeared a  mistaken  inference  several  times  before  drawn, 
that  the  doctrine  of  evolution  as  applied  to  social  affairs 
precludes  philanthropic  effort.  How  untrue  this  is,  was 
shown  by  me  in  the  FORTNIGHTLY  REVIEW  for  February, 
1875.  Here  I  reproduce  the  essential  part  of  that  which 
was  there  said.} 

I  am  chiefly  concerned,  however,  to  repudiate  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  "  private  action  of  citizens "  is  needless  or  un- 
important, because  the  course  of  social  evolution  is  deter- 
mined by  the  natures  of  citizens,  as  working  under  the  con- 
ditions in  which  they  are  placed.  To  assert  that  each  social 
change  is  thus  determined,  is  to  assert  that  all  the  egoistic 
and  altruistic  activities  of  citizens  are  factors  of  the  change ; 
and  is  tacitly  to  assert  that  in  the  absence  of  a-ny  of  these — 


POSTSCRIPT.  419 

say  political  aspirations,  or  the  promptings  of  philanthropy — 
the  change  will  not  be  the  same.  So  far  from  implying  that 
the  eiforts  of  each  man  to  achieve  that  which  he  thinks  best, 
are  unimportant,  the  doctrine  implies  that  such  efforts,  sever- 
ally resulting  from  the  natures  of  the  individuals,  are  indis- 
pensable forces.  The  correlative  duty  is  thus  emphasized  in 
§  34  of  First  Principles  : — 

"It  is  not  for  nothing  that  he  has  in  him  these  sympathies  with 
some  principles  and  repugnance  to  others.  He,  with  all  his  capacities, 
and  aspirations,  and  beliefs,  is  not  an  accident,  but  a  product  of  the 
time.  He  must  remember  that  while  he  is  a  descendant  of  the  past, 
he  is  a  parent  of  the  future ;  and  that  his  thoughts  are  as  children 
born  to  him,  which  he  may  not  carelessly  let  die.  He,  like  every  other 
man,  may  properly  consider  himself  as  one  of  the  myriad  agencies 
through  whom  works  the  Unknown  Cause ;  and  when  the  Unknown 
Cause  produces  in  him  a  certain  belief,  he  is  thereby  authorized  to 
profess  and  act  out  that  belief.  For,  to  render  in  their  highest  sense 
the  words  of  the  poet, — 

"...  Nature  is  made  better  by  no  mean, 
But  nature  makes  that  mean :  over  that  art 
Which  you  say  adds  to  nature,  is  an  art 
That  nature  makes." 

That  there  is  no  retreat  from  this  view  in  the  work  Pro- 
fessor Cairnes  criticizes,  The  Study  of  Sociology,  is  sufficiently 
shown  by  its  closing  paragraph  : — 

"Thus,  admitting  that  for  the  fanatic  some  wild  anticipation  is 
needful  as  a  stimulus,  and  recognizing  the  usefulness  of  this  delusion 
as  adapted  to  his  particular  nature  and  his  particular  function,  the 
man  of  higher  type  must  be  content  with  greatly-moderated  expecta- 
tions, while  he  perseveres  with  undiminished  efforts.  He  has  to  see 
how  comparatively  little  can  be  done,  and  yet  to  find  it  worth  while 
to  do  that  little:  so  uniting  philanthropic  energy  with  philosophic 
calm." 

I  do  not  see  how  Professor  Cairnes  reconciles  with  such 
passages,  his  statement  that  "  according  to  Mr.  Spencer,  the 
future  of  the  human  race  may  be  safely  trusted  to  the  action 
of  motives  of  a  private  and  personal  kind — to  motives  such 


420  THE  MAN  VERSUS  THE  STATE. 

as  operate  in  the  production  and  distribution  of  wealth,  or  in 
the  development  of  language."  This  statement  is  to  the 
effect  that  I  ignore  the  "  action  of  motives "  of  a  higher 
kind ;  whereas  these  are  not  only  necessarily  included  by  me 
in  the  totality  of  motives,  but  repeatedly  insisted  upon  as  all- 
essential.  I  am  the  more  surprised  at  this  misapprehension 
because,  in  the  essay  on  "  Specialized  Administration,"  to 
which  Professor  Cairnes  refers  (see  Fortnightly  fieview,  for 
December,  1871),  I  have  dwelt  at  considerable  length  on  the 
altruistic  sentiments  and  the  resulting  social  activities,  as 
not  having  been  duly  taken  into  account  by  Professor 
Huxley. 

As  Professor  Cairnes  indicates  at  the  close  of  his  first 
paper,  the  difficulty  lies  in  recognizing  human  actions  as, 
under  one  aspect,  voluntary,  and  under  another  pre-deter- 
inined.  I  have  said  elsewhere  all  I  have  to  say  on  this  point. 
Here  I  wish  only  to  point  out  that  the  conclusion  he  draws 
from  my  premises  is  utterly  different  from  the  conclusion  I 
draw.  Entering  this  caveat,  I  must  leave  all  further  elucida- 
tions to  come  in  due  course. 


THE   END. 


SUBJECT-INDEX 

TO  SOCIAL  STATICS  AND  MAN  VERSUS  STATE. 

(For  this  Index  the  Author  is  indebted  to  F.  HOWARD  COLLINS,  Esq.,  of 
Edgbaston,  Birmingham.) 


ACCIDENTS  :  woman's  sympathy,  50. 

Acorn,  growth,  87. 

Acquisitiveness,  instinct  of,  48. 

Acts  of  Parliament:  ineffectual,  12,  13, 
313-14 ;  selfishness,  96 ;  restrictive, 
290;  building,  210-12,  342-47  ;  Palm- 
erston's,  290-92;  factory,  290-94, 
309-10  ;  Gladstone's,  2'.)'2-93 ;  belief 
in,  212.  377;  artisans'  dwellings,  346-47  ; 
public  health,  350  ;  (see  also  Artisans' 
Dwellings,  Law). 

Adaptation  :  relation  to  good,  28 ;  a  per- 
manent tendency,  28-30 ;  man  not  per- 
fectly adapted,  31-32,  56  ;  the  aim  of 
moral  teaching,  35 ;  pain  from  non-, 
41 ;  of  conduct,  44  ;  belief  in  equality, 
47  ,  and  marriage,  78 ;  and  education, 
88,176-78,  356;  and  social  surround- 
ings, 100;  and  specialization,  122;  re- 
tarded by  poor  laws,  1 48^49 ;  and  hu- 
man suffering,  232-34  ;  its  slowness, 
234-36  ;  and  race  survival,  236-38 ;  of 
citizens  and  government,  251-53 ;  and 
heredity,  356 ;  (see  aho  Habit). 

Admiralty  :  mismanagement,  133,  213, 
350-51  ;  and  telegraph,  350. 

Adulteration:  effects,  264;  appointment 
of  analysts,  290. 

Adultery,  penalty,  399. 

^Esthetics,  and  greatest  happiness,  9- 
10. 

Affection,  and  intellect,  15-17. 

Afghan  war,  cost,  192. 

Africa:  suppression  of  slave-trade  in, 
11-12;  and  Colonial  Office,  194, 195. 

Agriculture,  and  education,  163-64. 

Alexander  VI.,  colonization,  189. 

Allotments,  rent  of,  102. 

America  :  man's  equality,  47  ;  declara- 
tion of  independence,  194;  slavery, 
250,  262  ;  railways  and  morality,  266 ; 
crime  and  poverty,  366. 

Animals .  adaptation  of,  29-32 ;  and  Na- 
ture's warfare,  149 ;  traits  of  society 
and,  267-73 ;  continuance  of  species, 
359-62 ;  life  of,  397-100. 


Annelida,  segmentation  of,  269. 

Appetite:  importance  of,  15-17;  pre- 
sent, for  food,  43 ;  (see  also  Food). 

Arafura  customs,  392.. 

Araucanian  customs,  391. 

Arbitration,  and  national  character, 
115,  120. 

Arch,  J.,  on  land,  325. 

Architect,  on  industrial  dwellings, 
344-^5. 

Aristotle,  on  barbarians,  55. 

Arnold,  Matthew :  on  copyright,  387 ; 
on  property,  388. 

Artisans*  Dwellings:  Metropolitan  As- 
sociation for,  209 ;  Buildings  Acts, 
210-11,  323-24;  removal  of,  263;  and 
legislation,  294 ;  at  Liverpool,  306 ; 
and  bad  legislation,  342-47 ;  in  Glas- 
gow, 347-48 ;  and  happiness,  409. 

Ashantee  customs,  391-92. 

Assassination  and  tyranny,  261-62. 

Astronomer  Royal,  stipend,  58. 

Austin,  J.,  on  sovereignty,  380. 

Australia,  and  Colonial  Office,  195. 

Austria,  education  iu,  159, 166-67. 

Author:  rights  of,  387  ;  self-criticism,  80. 

Authority  :  and  love,  75-77 ;  traits  of 
belief,  241-45  ;  and  equity,  245-46. 

Axioms:  importance  of  definiteness,  7j 
geometric  sense,  22-23. 

BAGEHOT,  W. :  state  and  currency,  228. 

Bakehouses,  and  legislation,  291. 

Banking,  (see  Currency). 

Barrister,  and  perfect  law,  26. 

Bath,  the  union  at,  and  poor  law,  304-5. 

Battles,  (see  War). 

Bavaria,  marriage  in,  11. 

Bechuana,  conduct  and  custom,  391. 

Beerhouses,  (see  Licensing  Acts). 

Begging  :  effect  of  poor  laws,  148 ;  profit- 
ableness, 152. 

Beliefs:  truth  of,  81;  and  causation, 
355-50. 

Beneficence  :  negative,  34  ;  positive,  35 ; 
justice,  40,  51. 


422 


BENTHAM-COPYRIGHT. 


Bentham,  J. :  on  moral  sense,  17-19, 21 ; 

on  rights,  54,  92-93,  388-90,  393  ;  im- 
postor terms,  389. 

Berlin,  suppression  of  immorality,  132. 
Bibles,  and  slavery,  250. 
Bismarck,  Prince,   and  state  socialism, 

329. 

Black  Act  of  George  I.,  96. 
Boards  of  Health  :  inefficiency,  212-14; 

and  cholera,  213-14 ;  (see  also  Sanitary 

Supervision). 

Bolingbroke,  Viscount,  on  parties,  283. 
Book,  property  in  ideas,  69-70. 
Book-club,  analogy,  381-82. 
Botanv,  {gee  Plants). 
Boundaries,  and  census,  349. 
Brewing,  (see  Licensing  Acts). 
Brewster,  Sir  D.,  teaching   of  science, 

130. 

Bricks,  effect  of  duty,  211. 
Builder,  The,  on  the  brick  duty,  211. 
Building:    educational    analogy,    180; 

(see  also  Acts  of  Parliament,  Artisans' 

Dwellings). 

Burial,  and  state  duty,  130. 
Burke,  on  sympathy,  50. 

CAB:  hailing,  302. 

Cairnes,  J.  E.,  and  social  future,  419-20. 

Canada:  cost  of,  192;  and  Colonial 
Office,  194, 195. 

Cancer,  cause  of,  268. 

Capital,  and  dwellings,  209. 

Carlyle,  T.,  creed  of,  377. 

Cartouche,  and  Henry  IV.,  241. 

Causation :  and  trespasses,  261  -  64 ; 
knowledge  of,  needful  to  legislators, 
355-59. 

Census:  delay  of  returns,  349;  bound- 
aries, 349. 

Ceylon  :  cost  of  colony,  192 ;  and  Colo- 
nial Office,  195. 

Chalmers,  T.,  political  economy,  104. 

Chamberlain,  J.,  on  rates,  368. 

Character,  and  company,  81. 

Charity,  (see  Poor  laws'). 

Charles  II.,  colonization,  189-90. 

Cheltenham,  drainage,  218. 

Chemists,  prescribing  by,  204. 

Children :  rights,  80-90*;  and  civiliza- 
tion, 81-84;  aim  of  education,  83-84; 
anti-coercive  treatment,  85-86,  86-87 ; 
need  for  education,  87-89 ;  parental 
obstacle  to  education,  89-90 ;  love  of, 
160;  restrictive  legislation,  290,  292, 
293 ;  and  poor  relief,  309 ;  treatment 
of,  372;  (we  also  Education). 

China  :  connubial  and  filial  relationship 
in,  82  ;  education  in,  159, 166. 

Chippewayan  customs,  392. 

Cholera,  and  board  of  health,  213-14. 

Cholesbury,  poor  law  at,  326. 

Church,  and  State,  141-43;  (see  also 
Religion). 


Civilization:  natural,  32;  and  status  of 
women,  77,  81  ;  and  ot  children,  81 ; 
and  democracy,  105-8 ;  and  impulsive- 
ness, 151 ;  course  of,  233-36,  236-38 ; 
and  life  of  savage,  238 ;  and  individ- 
uality, 253-55,  259-61. 

Classification :  of  nature,  256;  man,  270; 
and  intelligence,  286-87. 

Climate,  adaptation  tc,  29. 

Cloth,  restrictions  to  making,  129. 

Clothing:  and  education,  157;  and  sani- 
tary supervision,  201-2. 

Coal,  effects  of  price,  359. 

Cobbett,  W.,  maintenance  from  soil, 
144. 

Cobden  Club  and  free  trade,  362-63. 

Coercion,  and  love,  75-77 ;  (see  also  Mili- 
tancy). 

Coinage,  fixing  value  of,  139 ;  (see  also 
Currency). 

Coleridge,  S.  T. :  on  knaves,  174 ;  theory 
of  life,  255-56. 

Cologne :  castle  of  Archbishop  of,  244. 

Colonies :  cost  of  English,  188 ;  Colo- 
nial Office,  196. 

Colonization,  Government :  188-99 ;  and 
first  principle,  188-89 ;  and  acquisi- 
tiveness, 189-90 ;  and  commerce,  190- 
92, 192-93 ;  and  colonial  interests,  194- 
96 ;  and  aborigines,  196-98 ;  and  by 
private  individuals,  198-99. 

Coming  Slavery.  The,  302-33. 

Commerce,  (see  Industrialism,  Trade). 

Communism :  and  property,  65-67  ;  (see 
also  Socialism). 

Competition :  in  drainage,  paving,  and 
lighting,  218-19 ;  letter  carrying,  229- 
31. 

Comte,  A.,  social  statics  and  dynamics, 
233. 

Conduct:  moral-sense  doctrine,  15-23, 
56-57 :  adaptation  of,  44 ;  and  intellect, 
174 ;  and  emotion,  175-76 ;  dependence 
on  law,  245-46 ;  and  instincts,  332-33 ; 
and  custom,  391-92;  and  militancy, 
394-95;  sentiments  and  ideas,  412; 
(see  also  Ethics,  Morals). 

Conscription,  and  toryism,  281-86. 

Conservatism,  and  education,  165-68. 

Considerations,  General,  233-73. 

Constitutions,  growth  of,  114. 

Contagious  Diseases  Act,  291-92. 

Contract :  and  majority,  382-83 ;  and  co- 
operation. 401-5 ;  individual  and  social 
life,  406-7 ;  407-11. 

Convicts :  and  education,  170-76 ;  (see 
also  Crime). 

Co-operation  :  compulsory  and  volun- 
tary, 281-86;  and  organization,  328- 
30  ;  majorities  and  minorities,  384-87, 
406-7  ;  and  social  life,  401 ;  militancy 
and  industrialism,  415. 

Copyright :  property  in  ideas,  68-72 ; 
Arnold  on,  387. 


CORN-ENGLAND. 


423 


Corn :  price  of,  104 ;  laws,  336. 

Corporations,  conservative,  165-66. 

Cotton:  and  general  morality,  266; 
industry,  307,  402;  effects  of  famine, 
359. 

Counter-practice,  203-4. 

Covenants,  Hobbes  on,  379-80. 

Credit,  (see  Currency). 

Creeds,  adverse.  416. 

Crime:  and  education,  170-76;  sta- 
tistics of,  207-8 ;  silent  system  of 
punishing,  212;  and  reverence  for 
authority,  242;  good  convicts,  bad 
men,  244  ;  etfeets  of,  261-64 ;  and  pop- 
ulation, 355  ;  and  poverty,  365. 

Cringing,  and  tyranny,  243. 

Criticism,  of  author,  80. 

Crustacean  locomotion,  269. 

Currency:  221-32;  opinions  on,  103; 
and  poor  laws,  153-55;  State  regula- 
tion, -J21-24;  State  banking,  224-25; 
State  coining,  2-_'.J-i'7 :  and  free  trade, 
227-2$;  good  and  bad  money,  22>  //. ; 
universal  currency,  228  n. ;  govern- 
ment, and  value  of,  246  ;  and  general 
immorality,  265. 

Custom,  and  conduct,  391-93. 

Czar :  and  Eussian  peasant,  134 ;  (see 
also  Kussia). 

DARWIX,  C.,  natural  selection,  365. 

Debt:  and  perfect  law,  26  ;  and  justice, 
53. 

Democracy :  and  freedom,  105-8 ;  and 
monarch}',  248-49. 

Democratic  Federation :  views  of,  319, 
324,  326-27,  329-30,  331-32. 

Desires  •  importance  of,  16 ;  moral  sense, 
19-21  ;  and  adaptation,  31 ;  and  social 
activity,  357-58. 

Despotism,  subversive  to  love,  75-77. 

Discovery,  and  property  in  ideas,  68- 
72. 

Disease-  result  of  non-adaptation,  28; 
and  sympathy,  49,  206-7  ;  social  ef- 
fects, 180,  151 ;  knowledge  and  con- 
duct. 174;  natural  selection,  205-7; 
cholera  and  board  of  health,  213-15  ; 
small-pox.  212-13.  267,  291;  cause, 
267;  social  and  individual,  273;  and 
preventive  legislation,  314;  dnnrgistV 
assistant,  337-38,  375;  in  Edinburgh, 
351  ;  (fife  at  no  Health  ). 

Dishonesty :  property  in  ideas,  69 ;  so- 
cial result,  71. 

Dissent,  religious  establishment?,  142, 
145. 

Dissenters:  and  whig  principles,  284; 
marriage  of,  284. 

Divine  Bight:  meaning,  57;  and  of 
kings  and  majorities,  91 ,  and  of  par- 
liaments, 376-78. 

Divinity,  doth  hedge  a  king,  410-11. 

Dockyard  mismanagement,  133. 


Drainage:  and  officialism,  218,351 ;  (see 
also  Sanitary  Supervision). 

Dress,  State  restrictions,  130. 

Druggist,  responsibility  of,  337-38,  375. 

Drunkenness  :  and  adaptation,  29 ;  inju- 
rious, 41,44;  knowledge  and  conduct, 
174. 

Dwellings,  (see  Artisans'  Dwellings). 

Dyak  customs,  391. 

Dyeing,  State  interference,  161,  289, 
290. 

Dynamics,  the  term  social,  233. 

EARTH,  The:  rights  to,  62-64,  65,  144, 
393. 

Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  selfish- 
ness, n7. 

Edinburgh,  disease  in,  351. 

Education :  and  adaptation,  30,  356 ; 
bias  of,  80;  anti-coercion,  83,  85-86, 
86-87;  chief  object  of,  83-84;  why 
needed,  87-89 ;  parental  obstacle  to, 
89-90;  and  State  duty,  129-30,  132; 
national,  156-87,  295 ;  and  rights,  156- 
57;  and  parental  responsibility,  157, 
183-84 ;  definition,  157 ;  control  in 
France,  158-59;  reason  for  nation- 
al, 158, 161 ;  in  France,  Austria,  China, 
158-60, 166  ;  parental  feelings,  160-61 ; 
cheap,  163;  interest  and  judgment  of 
government,  164-65 ;  progressive,  166 ; 
and  slow  progress  of  Nature,  169-70  ; 
and  religion,  167;  at  Oxford,  167-68; 
at  Eton,  168 ;  scientific,  at  universities, 
168;  by  State,  conservative,  165-68; 
and  crime,  170-76 ;  free  and  improvi- 
dence, 176-78  ;  by  State,  and  State  re- 
ligion, 179-85;  and  evolution,  181-82; 
unphilosophieal  system  of,  181-82 ;  re- 
wards and  punishments,  183;  State, 
and  voluntary  efforts,  185-87;  result 
of  pauper,  212;  restrictive  legislation, 
292,  293 ;  indirect  effects,  309 ;  pay- 
ment by  results,  310;  gratis,  and 
food,  313 ;  examination  and  officialism, 
315-16;  reading,  317-18;  for  parlia- 
ment, 372-73. 

Edward  I.,  equality  of  human  rights,  46. 

Edward  111.,  regulation  of  commerce, 
138. 

Edward  VI.,  and  usury,  128. 

Electricity,  restrictive  legislation,  293. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  and  colonization, 
189. 

Emerson,  E.  W.,  principles  and  facts, 
365  n. 

Emigrants  treatment,  198. 

Emotions:  bias  of,  80;  and  conduct, 
175-70. 

Enclosure  laws,  and  selfishness,  96. 

England  ;  justification  for  war,  74  ;  po- 
litical, connubial,  and  filial  relations 
in,  82;  dishonesty  in,  101;  sport  in, 
102 ;  colonies  of,  188,  196  ;  sanitation 


424 


EQUAL— GLADSTONE,  W.  E. 


in,  208-9 ;  enterprise  of  English,  216- 
17  ;  banking,  223-25 ;  sympathy,  235- 
36 ,  railways,  404. 

Equalj  and  equity,  47. 

Equality,  of  human  rights,  47_-49. 

Equity :  and  equal,  47 ;  opinions  on, 
54 ;  and  colonization,  193 ;  and  au- 
thority, 245-46  ;  and  law,  396. 

Ethics:  object  of,  405-7,  408;  (see  also 
Morals). 

Eton,  education  at,  168. 

Evil:  diminution  of,  28-32;  result  of 
non-adaptation,  28-32. 

Evolution:  origin  of  idea,  122  n. ;  and 
education,  181-82;  date  of  conception, 
271  n. ;  and  individuation;  272 :  natu- 
ral selection,  365. 

Examination,  and  belief  in  officialism, 
315-16. 

Exercise  :  agreeableness  of,  8 ;  and  fac- 
ulty, 38,  84, 

Expediency:  unguided,  11-14;  philo- 
sophy, and  social  state,  91, 125-26. 

Eyes :  sympathy  with  diseased,  49 ;  (see 
also  Vision). 

FACTORY  ACTS:  restrictive,  290-94 ;  in- 
direct effects,  309-10. 

Faculty:  exercise  of,  8,  38;  and  fore- 
sight, 48-49. 

Fagging,  Moberly  on,  250. 

Fainting,  and  sympathy,  50. 

Fairman,  Frank,  on  socialism,  333. 

Family,  benefits  to  mature  and  imma- 
ture, 359-62. 

Federation,  possibility  of,  120. 

Feelings :  bias  of,  80 ;  and  opinion,  249- 

Fetish,  belief  in,  347-48,  352. 

Feudalism,  cost  of,  262-63. 

Filmer,  Sir  Robert:  man's  liberty  and 
equality,  46  ;  denial  of  rights,  57. 

Fires :  extinction  in  Berlin,  208,  and  ». ; 
selfishness  at,  263. 

First  Principle  :  55-59  ;  its  application, 
60;  derivation  of,  36-45,  46-54; 
"First  Principles,"  quoted,  419. 

Fish,  classification  of,  286-87. 

Fletcher  J.,  on  crime  and  education, 
172-73. 

Flogging,  sympathy  at,  50. 

Food :  adaptation  to,  29  ;  present  desire 
for.  43,  and  n.  •  Locke  on  property,  67  ; 
ana  poor  laws,  153-54 ;  and  education, 
157,  313;  and  sanitary  supervision, 
201 ;  government  and  prices.  246  ;  and 
legislation,  290,  291 ;  law  and  price  of, 
339-40 ;  individual  life,  397-400  ;  (see 
also  Appetite). 

Force  :  pnysical  and  moral,  116-17 ;  per- 
sistence of,  215. 

Forestalling,  in  England  and  France, 
339. 

Forrest,  C.,on  artisans1  dwellings,  345-46. 


Fox,  Sir  Charles,  on  government  offices, 
348-19. 

France :  selfishness  in,  95 ;  trade  restric- 
tions, 128-29;  Guizot  on,  133-34;  of- 
ficialism in,  133-35,  139  ;  the  right  to 
labour,  144-45;  State  control  of 
schools,  158-59 ;  sanitation  in,  208-9; 
English  enterprise,  216-17  ;  vine  cult- 
ure, 227}  and  social  dissolution,  'J45; 
views  of  revolutionists,  287  ;  railways, 
311,  404;  official  rank  in,  31C.;  trade 
unions  in,  317  ;  revolution  aiul  land, 
325 ;  freedom  in,  331 ;  forestalling  in, 
339 ;  cause  of  revolution,  41". 

Freedom :  man's  claim  to,  36-40,  56 ; 
fundamental,  40,  41,  53;  individual, 
40-42;  separation  of  injurious  from 
beneficial  acts,  42-44;  requisite  to 
normal  life,  45;  law  of  equal,  the  first 
principle,  55;  not  recognized  by  all, 
55-57 ;  absurdity  of  denying  it,  57-58 ; 
and  socialism,  65^67 ;  political  rights, 
92-93 ;  and  majorities,  94 ;  and  democ- 


tion  of  commerce,  *137 -40;  and  educa- 
tion, 183-84;  and  present  imperfec- 
tion, 220 ;  and  authority,  '245 ;  and 
power-worship,  246-48;  and  individ- 
uality, 255-59;  penalities  of  breaking 
law,  261-64;  extended  by  whig  prin- 
ciples, 284;  surrender  and  slavery, 
296-99;  and  militancy,  394-95;  Aus- 
tin on,  383-84. 

Free  trade :  and  medicine,  203-7 ;  and 
currency,  227-28;  Cobden  Club  on, 
362-63 ;  and  protection,  369-71. 

Friends,  Society  of,  (see  Quakers). 

Fruit,  State  restrictions  to  eating,  131. 

Function,  specialization  of,  121. 

GARDEN:  impatience  of  children,  169. 

Gas:  French  and  English  enterprise, 
216-17;  municipal  and  private  enter- 
prise, 218-20;  legislative  restrictions, 
290. 

General  Considerations,  233-73. 

Generosity,  continuance  of  species,  359- 
62. 

Geology  :  slow  changes  of,  169-70;  uni- 
formitarianism,  377. 

Geometry :  "  geometric  sense,"  22-24 ; 
moral  analogv,  26. 

George,  H.,  and  land  nationalization,  319. 

George  III.,  national  education.  1-32. 

Germany:  trade  restrictions.  129;  sup- 
pression of  immorality,  132;  sanita- 
tion in,  208;  English  enterprise.  21»>- 
17 ;  former  morality,  244  •,  Natur-rccht 
and  jurisprudence,  387. 

Gibraltar,  fortification  of.  192. 

Gladstone,  W.  E. :  restrictive  legislation, 
292-93 ,  address  to,  353. 


GLASGOW  IMPROVEMENT  TRUST— INSTITUTIONS.    £25 


Glasgow  Improvement  Trust,  347-48. 

Gaols,  State  mismanagement,  133;  (see 
also  Crime). 

Gold,  (see  Currency). 

Government :  and  adaptation,  30 ;  rep- 
resentative, and  civilization,  105-8 ; 
special  function  to  administer  justice, 
111-14;  distribution  of  justice,  116- 
17;  duty  of  defence,  117-20;  security 
For  education,  164-65;  colonization, 
188-99 ;  suppression  of  nuisances,  200 ; 
conduct  and  law,  246 ;  and  power- 
worship,  247-49 ;  and  nature  of  citi- 
zens, 251-53,  253-55 ;  and  aggression, 
334;  offices  an  inverted  filter,  348; 
and  individual  effort,  357-59 ;  and 
rights,  388-90;  conduct  and  custom, 
391-93 ;  natural  rights,  393-98 ;  origin 
and  limits  of  authority,  405-7,  407-11 ; 
transitional  stage  of,  412;  (see  also 
Sanitary  Supervision,  State). 

Gravity,  physical  and  moral  force,  116- 
17. 

Greatest  Happiness :  phrase,  indefinite, 
7-10,  21 ;  cannot  be  determined  em- 
pirically, 11-14;  and  moral  sense,  17- 
19;  not  the  immediate  aim,  33-35; 
conditions  to,  33 ;  freedom  essential 
to,  36-45. 

Great  Political  Superstition,  The,  376- 
411. 

Greece:  hero-worship  absent,  242;  gov- 
ernment in,  254;  status  of  citizens, 
330. 

Green,  J.  E.,  on  whig  power,  283-84. 

Grey.  Lord,  on  dirty  tenants,  323. 

Greyhound,  adaptation  of,  29 

Grote,  G. :  on  hero-worship,  242 ;  Gre- 
cian government,  254. 

Ground,  (see  Earth). 

Growth :  and  education,  87-89 ;  social, 
215-16. 

Guibert,  Abbot,  on  French  cities,  56. 

Guizot,  M.,  on  political  machinery, 
133. 

Gymnasia,  at  Manchester,  307. 

HABEAS  CORPUS  ACT:  a  whig  principle, 

Habit :  bias  of,  80 :  and  training,  86  ;  (see 
also  Adaptation). 

Happiness :  and  sympathy.  50 ;  political 
rights,  92-93 ;  and  faculty,  125-26 ;  (see 
also  Greatest  Happiness). 

Harbours,  State  building  of,  231. 

Health  :  State  restrictions,  130-31 ;  and 
medical  men,  206  ;  social  and  individ- 
ual, 273;  payment  by  results,  310; 
(see  also  Disease,  Sanitary  Supervi- 
sion). 

Henry  IV.,  and  Cartouche^  241. 

Henry  VIII.,  trade  restrictions,  128. 

Heredity:  and  adaptation,  356;  and 
natural  selection,  365. 


Hero-worship :  and  aggression,  241-45 ; 

and  authority,  247-49. 
Herrings:  sale  of,  340;  branding,  351 
Hill,  Rowland,  and  officialism,  229. 
Hindoos:  adaptation  of, 29;  passive  and 

tyrannical,  243. 
Ilincloostan,  (see  India). 
Hinton    Charterhouse,    and    poor   law. 

304-5. 

History,  and  education.  180-81. 
Hobbes,    T. :    political    rights,    92-93  ; 

sovereignty,  378-80. 
Honesty,  growth  of,  244. 
Hottentot  customs,  391. 
Houses:    inspection,  313;    origin,   357; 

(see  also  Artisans'  Dwellings). 
House  of  Commons,  (see  Parliament). 
Hudson,  testimonials  to,  58. 
Hungary,  selfishness  in,  95. 
Huxley,   T.    H.,    altruistic   sentiments, 

420. 

Hydra,  individuality,  257-58. 
Hyndman,  H.  M. :  on  land,  319 ;  "  Social- 
ism and  Slavery,"  333. 

IDEALS:  importance  of,  417-18. 

Ideas :  right  of  property  in,  68-72 ;  and 
social  activity,  357-58. 

Ignorance :  of  enfranchised,  102-5 ;  and 
justice,  338. 

Impatience,  of  children  and  State-edu- 
cationalists, 169-70. 

Improvidence,  and  education,  176-78. 

Impulsiveness,  and  civilization,  151. 

Incomes,  reduction  by  majorities,  93-94. 

Independence,  declaration  of  American, 
194. 

India:  and  colonization,  192,  196,  197, 
199;  and  general  morality,  266. 

Individualism,  (see  Government,  State). 

Individuality,  and  government,  251-53, 
253-55. 

Individuation :  life  and  morals,  255-60; 
and  dependence,  260-61 ;  social  and 
individual,  272-73 ;  and  evolution, 
273. 

Industrialism:  and  liberalism,  281-86, 
300 ;  freedom  of,  395 ;  and  co-opera- 
tion, 401-5 ;  present  stage  transition- 
al, 415-17  ;  transition  gradual,  414-15 ; 
(see  also  Militancy). 

Industrial  Dwellings,  (see  Artisans' 
Dwellings). 

Injustice,  Hobbes  on,  378-79. 

Insane,  anti-coercive  treatment,  52, 
84-85. 

Insects :  transformations,  88 ;  vision  of, 
268-69;  segmentation,  269;  locomo- 
tion, 269-70. 

Inspection,  failure  of,  351-52. 

Instincts  :  and  bodily  welfare,  16-17;  of 
personal  rights,  47-49  ;  acquisitive,  48- 
49 ;  and  conduct,  333. 

Institutions :    and    national    character, 


426 


INSURANCE— LYELL,  SIR  C. 


114-16  ;  conservative,  165-68  ;  classi- 
fication of,  287. 

Insurance :  marine,  232 ;  compulsory, 
295 ;  and  poor  laws,  314 ;  and  legisla- 
tion, 350. 

Intellect:  and  affection,  15-17;  and 
moral-sense,  22;  apportionment  of 
rights,  73 ;  bias  of  habit,  80 ;  and  con- 
duct, 174;  and  opinion,  248-49;  and 
morals,  249-50;  and  individuation, 
255-60 ;  and  classification,  286-87. 

Interest,  and  morality,  265-66. 

Intoxicants,  restrictions  upon,  289. 

Invention,  and  property  in  ideas,  68-72. 

Ireland :  dishonesty  in,  101 ;  distress, 
129;  evil  effects  of,  264 

JAMAICA  :  slavery,  240,  250. 

James  I.,  trade  restrictions,  128. 

Janson,  F.  H. :  on  repealed  acts,  341 ; 
statistics  of  legislation,  350. 

Java  customs,  391. 

Jevons,  W.  S. :  money,  228;  on  abstract 
rights,  387. 

Journalism  and  socialism,  319-20. 

Jukes  family,  305  n. 

Julian,  Cardinal,  on  infidels,  56. 

Jurisprudence,  German,  387. 

Justice:  needful  to  happiness,  33-35; 
and  negative  beneficence,  40;  and 
sympathy,  50, 51 ;  and  personal  rights, 
51-53 ;  and  debt,  53 ;  opinions  on,  54 ; 
corrupt  administration,  109-10, 110-11 ; 
should  be  well  administered,  111-14; 
and  State  duty,  127 ;  and  poor  laws, 
149 ;  and  currency,  222 ;  primitive  ad- 
ministration, 336-37 ;  continuance  of 
species,  359-62;  Hobbes  on,  378-79; 
and  laws,  396 ;  national  and  interna- 
tional, 418. 

KINGS:  divine  right  of,  57,  376-77;  and 
American  declaration  of  independence, 
194  5  war  and  power  of,  334;  and  lib- 
eralism, 410-11. 

Kingsmill,  Kev.  J.,  on  crime  and  educa- 
tion, 172. 

Knowledge:  and  conduct,  174;  required 
for  legislation,  354-59 ;  (see  also  In- 
tellect). 

LABOUR  :  and  rights  of  property,  62-64 ; 
division  of  social,  121,  260,  268-73, 
401-5;  rights  to,  144-46;  and  poor 
laws,  153-55 ;  (see  also  Factory  Acts, 
Trade,  Industrialism). 

Ladies,  (see  Women). 

Lamb  and  wolf  fable,  74. 

Lancashire  industries,  402. 

Lancet:  and  sanitary  supervision, 
202-3  ;  on  counter-practice,  204. 

Land:  nationalization,  319,  386  ;  Hynd- 
man  on,  319;  socialism,  324-25;  soci- 
ety analogy,  381-82. 


Language:  specialization  of,  121-22; 
evolution,  358. 

Laughter,  and  svmpathy,  50. 

Law  :  moral  and  perfect  man,  25-27, 45 ; 
all  men  equal  before,  46 ;  opinions  on, 
54;  corrupt  administration  of  justice, 
109-10,  110-11 ;  justice  should  be  well 
administered,  111-14:  and  national 
character,  114-16;  and  conduct,  246- 
47;  preceded  by  usage,  298;  cost  of 
suits,  336-37  ;  laws  repealed,  341 ;  ef- 
fect of  bad,  341-42 ;  study  for  making, 
372-75;  primitive  codes,  392-94; 
sumptuary,  395 ;  improvements  in, 
395-96 ;  of  uncivilized,  398-400 ;  (see 
also  Acts  of  Parliament,  Morals, 
Usury). 

Leeds  industries,  402. 

Legislators,  The  Sins  of,  334-75. 

Legislature,  (see  Acts  of  Parliament, 
Law,  Parliament). 

Letters,  (see  Postal  Arrangements). 

Liberalism :  intrinsic  nature,  281-86 ; 
common  to  towns,  282;  aim  of,  283 ; 
reversal  of  policy,  288-89;  past  and 
present,  296-99 ;  and  monarchy,  298 ; 
and  voluntary  co-operation,  299-300, 
301 ;  past  and  present  function,  411 ; 
(see  also  Industrialism). 

Liberty,  (see  Freedom). 

Liberty  and  Property  Defence  League, 
301. 

Libraries,  and  legislation,  292,  320. 

Licensing  Acts,  162,  292,  293,  295,  310, 
313-14. 

Life :  freedom  requisite  to  normal,  45 ; 
and  individuation,  255-60 ;  social  and 
individual,  268-73;  373-75,  397-400; 
405-7,407-11;  benefits  to  mature  and 
immature,  359-63. 

Lighthouses,  State  erection  of,  231. 

Lighting,  by  private  enterprise,  218-20 ; 
(see  also  Gas). 

Literature,  suppression  of  cheap,  167. 

Liverpool  artisans'  dwellings,  ant;. 

Load  line  (see  Merchant  Shipping 
Acts). 

Locke,  J. :  man's  equality,  46 ;  rights  of 
property,  62-63 ;  on  food,  67  ;  study  at 
Oxford,  168. 

Logwood,  trade  restrictions,  128. 

London :  first  water-works  in,  217 ; 
idlers  in,  302 ;  (see  also  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment). 

Louis  XVI.,  maker  of  locks,  7. 

Love :  and  coercion,  75-77 ;  and  pity, 
302. 

Loyalty:  and  character,  242-45;  and 
authority,  245-46. 

Lunacy,  anti-coercion,  52,  53-54. 

Luther,  M.,  treatment  of  peasants, 
249. 

Lyell,  Sir  C.,  naturalism  and  super- 
naturalism,  377. 


LYTTELTON,  LORD— NAVIGATION. 


427 


Lyttelton,  Lord,  address  to  W.  E.  Glad- 
stone, 353. 

MACACLAY,  T.  B..  on  education,  170. 

Macintosh,  Sir  J.,  growth  of  constitu- 
tions, 115. 

Maconochie,  Oapt.  A.,  on  crime,  244. 

MVulloeh,  J.  K.,  on  colonies  and  trade, 
193. 

Madagascar,  customs  in,  391. 

Mai  lam,  used  by  children,  82. 

Mails,  (>>,•>•  Postal  Arrangements). 

Maintenance,  what  is  i  144. 

Maintenon,  Madame  de,  on  etiquette, 
262. 

Majorities;  on  right  of,  91,  381-87, 
4t.ir.-7;  omnipotent.  93-94 

Malta,  fortification  of,  192. 

Mammals,  vision,  208-69. 

Man  :  knowledge  of,  and  of  society,  14; 
morality  treats  of  the  straight,  25-27 ; 
adaptation  in,  29-30,  31,  56 ;  society 
needful  to  happiness  of,  33-35 ;  claim 
to  freedom  of  action,  36-40,  56  ;  self- 
control  of,  86 ;  life  and  individuality, 
253,  259-60  ;  the  perfect,  260,  261. 

Manchester  gymnasia,  307. 

Manslaughter,  by  druggist's  assistant, 
337-38. 

Manufacture,  and  organization,  121. 

Marine  insurance,  and  (State  aid,  232. 

Marlborough,  Duke  of,  allotments, 
102  n. 

Marriage  :  effect  of  checking,  in  Bava- 
ria, 11 ;  love  and  coercion,  75-77 ;  pros- 
pect, 77-79 ;  growth  of  democracy,  82 ; 
free  education  and  improvidence,  176- 
78 ;  of  dissenters,  284  ;  social  analogy, 
328 ;  price  of  corn,  355. 

Martineau,  Harriet,  crime  and  educa- 
tion, 171. 

Mask,  fear  of,  354. 

Mathematics:  "geometric  sense,"  22; 
and  moral  analogy,  26;  of  Bushman, 
56;  angle  of  man"  'falling,  60;  and  re- 
nectivepowers,  86. 

May,  Sir  Erskine,  on  corn  laws,  336. 

Mechanics  :    "  mechanical   sense,"     23 ; 

Eroperty  in  ideas,  68-72;  angle  of  man 
tiling,  60;  social  analogy,  114. 

Medicine:  and  sanitary  'supervision, 
201,  202-3  ;  (see  also  Disease,  Health). 

Members  of  Parliament,  demeanour  to, 
354 ;  (nee  also  Parliament). 

Memory,  and  rote-learning,  182. 

Mendicancy  profitable,  152. 

Merchant  Seamen's  Fund,  mismanage- 
ment of,  1- ".:'.. 

Merchant  Shipping  Acts,  293,  310-11. 

Mercy,  "quality  of,"  146. 

Merits,  test  of  relative?  58. 

Militancy:  and  toryism,  281-86,  300; 
effect  of,  284 ;  and  power  of  chief,  334 ; 
subordination  of,  394-95 ;  and  co-oper- 


ation, 401-5;  present  stage  transition- 
al, 415-17  ;  transition, gradual,  414-15; 
(see  also  Industrialism,  War). 

Milk,  adulteration,  162. 

Mill,  J.  S. :  on  money,  103 ;  on  govern- 
ment and  education,  161 ;  social  statics 
and  dynamics,  233. 

Mind :  activity  and  greatest  happiness, 
9:  male  and  female  ability,  73;  (see 
a/so  Education,  Intellect). 

Mining:  crime  and  education,  172; 
English  enterprise,  216-17 ;  Factory 
Acts,  291. 

Minorities,  (see  Majorities). 

Mints,  State  and  private,  225-26. 

Miracles,  and  colonization,  191. 

Miser,  instinct  of,  19. 

Misery:  and  sympathy,  50;  and  poor 
laws,  146-49 ;  of  deserving  and  unde- 
serving, 302-3 ;  and  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, 365-69. 

Moberly,  Dr.  G.,  on  fagging,  250. 

Model  dwellings,  (see  Artisans'  Dwel- 
lings). 

Monarchy :  selfishness,  95 ;  and  democ- 
racy, 248;  opinions  of,  282;  and  lib- 
eralism, 298 ;  and  republics,  312. 

Money,  (see  Currency). 

Monopoly,  property  in  ideas,  70. 

Monuments,  and  greatness,  58. 

Moorsom  fuse,  publication  of,  350. 

Morals :  doctrine  of  moral  sense,  15- 
23;  intuitive  moral  sense,  17-19; 
the  term  moral  sense,  19-21 ;  axioms, 
21-24;  what  is?  25-27;  deals  with 
perfect  man,  25-27,  45;  freedom  es- 
sential to  happiness,  36-45;  Adam 
Smith's  theory,  49 ;  law  of  perfect 
man,  62,  77 ;  faw  and  national  char- 
acter, 114-16;  physical  and  moral 
force,  116-17 ;  conduct  of  perfect  men, 
119;  and  currency,  221-24 ;  and  intel- 
lect, 249-51 ;  and  individuation,  255- 
60;  conformity  to  law,  261-65;  and 
trade,  265-67  ;  objects  of  ethics,  405-7, 
408. 

Morley,  S.,  and  education,  179. 

Munich,  illegitimacy  in,  11. 

Murder:  punishment  of,  394,399;  war 
and  retaliation,  416-17. 

M  vriapoda:  segmentation  and  locomo- 
tion, 269. 

NAPOLEON  I. :  cost  of  ambition,  335. 
National  education,  (see  Education). 
Natural  rights,  (see  Rights). 
Natural   Selection:  and  disease,  205-7; 

and  sympathy,  206-7;  social,  238-41, 

365. 
Nature :  warfare  of,  149 ;  slow  changes 

in,  169-70;  interference  with,  359. 
Navigation  :  restrictions  on,  290-91 ;  (see 

it/xv     Marine     Insurance,     Merchant 

Shipping  Acts). 


428 


NECESSARIES— PROUDHON,  M. 


Necessaries,  what  are  ?  144. 
Newspapers:  stamp  duty,  167;  public 

and  private  enterprise,   229-30;  (see 

also  Postal  Arrangements). 
Newton,  Sir  I.,  analogy  from,  13. 
New  Forest,  a  loss,  132.. 
New  York,  local  taxation  in,  324  n. 
New  Zealand,  and  Colonial  Office,  195, 

196. 

Notes,  bank,  (see  Currency). 
Nuisances,  suppression  by  State,  200. 
Nutrition,  (see  Appetite,  Food). 

OBEDIENCE:  necessity  of,  413,  415;  and 

theft,  243-44. 
Officialism:  evils  of,  131-33,  133-36;  in 

France,  134-35,  139;   and  regulation 

of  commerce,  137-40;  Rowland  Hill, 

229;  growth  of,  315-21. 
Opinion,  feelings  and  intellect,  249-51. 
Optimisnij  and  life,  397. 
Organization,  law  of,  121. 
Oxford,  and  education,  167-68. 

P.  &  0.  Co.,  and  postal  arrangements, 

230. 
Pain :  result  of  non-adaptation,  28 ;  and 

man's  freedom,  36-10 ;  freedom  and 

injurious  and  beneficial  acts,  42-^44; 

and   sympathy,    50;    and    ill-doing, 

303-4. 

Palace  Court,  favouritism  in,  116. 
Palmerston,  Lord,  restrictive  legislation 

of,  292. 

Paper,  (see  Currency). 
Parcels  Delivery  Co.,  and    postal    ar- 
rangements, 229. 
Parliament:  rights  and  belief  in,  54; 

doorkeeper,    58 :   selfishness    in,    97 ; 

and  political  rights,  91-93 ;  ignorance 

in,  103;  badly  built,  133;  desire    for 

votes,  318-19;    preparation  for,  338; 

divine  right  of,  381-87 ;  (see  also  Acts 

of  Parliament,  Law). 
Patagonians,  law  of,  399. 
Patents:    a    stimulus  to    manufacture, 

68-69 ;  term  of,  72. 

Paving,  by  private  enterprise,  218-20. 
Peace,  and  defensive  duty  of  the  State, 

117-20. 

Pedlars'  Act,  293. 

Penn,  William,  colonization  by,  198-99. 
Pentonvillc  Prison,  crime  and  education, 

172. 
Perception,  and  moral  sense,  19-21 ;  (see 

also  Intellect). 

Persia,  hero- worship,  242,  243. 
Peru,  officialism  in,  332. 
Pessimism,  and  life,  397. 
Pcwsey,  gas  company,  219  n. 
Pharmacopoeia,  publication,  291. 
Physician,  social  analogy,  374. 
Physics,  interpretation  by,  272-73. 
Physiology :    and    education,    180-81 ; 


treats  of  normal  functions,  27;  (see 
also  Disease,  Health). 

Pins,  manufacture  of,  128, 161. 

Pitt,  W.,  on  poor  law  and  children, 
309. 

Pity :  for  men  and  animals,  234-36 ;  and 
love,  302. 

Plants :  adaptation,  29, 32 ;  reproduction, 
237-38 ;  classification,  286. 

Plato,  republic  of,  250. 

Pleasure,  (see  Greatest  Happiness,  Hap- 
piness, Pain). 

Pocket-picking,  administration  of  jus- 
tice, 109. 

Poland,  morality  in,  243. 

Police:  conspiracy  of,  116;  and  soldiers, 
118;  and  property,  394. 

Political  economy,"  division  by  Mill, 
229  H. 

Political  rights,  (see  Rights). 

Pollock,  F.,  on  law  improvements,  396. 

Polyps :  and  socialism,  67 ;  integration 
in,  270,  271. 

Poor :  vices  of  rich  and,  97-99 ;  deserv- 
ing and  undeserving,  302-4. 

Poor  Laws:  144-55";  discontent  at, 
12-13 ;  right  of  maintenance,  144-46 ; 
sympathy,  146-49;  and  adaptation, 
149-53 ;  increase  distress,  158-55 ;  and 
education,  176-78 ;  medical  officers  of, 
202-3;  demoralization  of,  304;  Rev. 
T.  Spencer.  304-5 ;  present  extension 
of  system,  304-8 ;  effects,  309,  325-26, 
352-53,  368-69  ;  and  insurance,  314. 

Population,  effect  of  adaptation,  31. 

Pori/era,  individuation  in,  255-57. 

Postal  arrangements,  229-31 ;  and  offi- 
cialism, 350. 

Poverty :  and  crime,  366 ;  (see  also  Poor 
Laws). 

Power,  worship  of,  245-47,  247-49,  251- 
53. 

"  Practical  "  politicians,  limited  views 
of,  308-12. 

Praise,  and  education,  183. 

Press,  the,  socialistic  leaning,  319-20. 

Prices:  fixing  by  the  State,  211;  social 
effects,  359. 

Printing:  suppression  of,  167;  slow 
growth,  170. 

Progress,  human,  265. 


limit  of  State  duty,  123-25 ;  State  edu- 
cation, 156 ;  sanitary  supervision,  200 ; 
authority,  245,  24<>;  parliament,  370- 
71 ;  present  safety,  394 ;  of  married 
women,  396. 

Protection,  and  aggression,  3(i',i-71. 

Protestantism :  and  law  of  equal  free- 
dom, 37,  38;  social  anomaly,  132. 

Prussia,  election  not  desired  in,  107  n. 

Proudhon,  M., "  property  is  robbery,"  66. 


PUBLIC— SOCIETY. 


429 


Public  houses,  (see  Licensing  Acts). 
Public  School  Association,  zeal  of,  185 ; 

(see  also  Education). 
Public  works,  State  execution  of,  231- 

32. 
Punjaub,  cost  of,  192. 

QUAKERS:  and  personal  liberty,  54;  in 

Pennsylvania,  198-99. 
Quacks,    and    State    interference,    201, 

203-4. 

RADICALISM,  (see  Liberalism). 

Ragged  schools,  and  crime,  172. 

Railways :  Hudson  testimonials,  58 ; 
English  enterprise,  217 ;  public  and 
private  enterprise,  230,  231 :  and 
morality,  266 ;  restrictive  legislation, 
294,  311;  in  Spain,  308;  and  demo- 
cratic federation.  319;  State  owner- 
ship, 326-^7  ;  "  Morals  and  Policy," 
381-82 ;  in  England  and  France,  311, 
404. 

Rates,  height  of,  370 ;  (see  also  Taxes). 

Rath  bone,  W.,  on  local  taxation,  324  n. 

Reading,  and  education,  317-18. 

Reason,  and  human  guidance,  173-74. 

Reform  Bills,  effect  of,  284. 

Religion:  religious  establishments,  141- 
43 ;  and  dissent,  145 ;  State  teaching, 
160;  and  education,  167,  179,184-85; 
and  colonization,  190;  and  sanitary 
supervision,  202 ;  changes  and  organi- 
zations, 254-55 ;  and  whig  principles, 
284;  and  liberalism,  289;  science  and 
suttering,  303 ;  and  rights  of  majority, 
384-85 :  amity  and  enmity,  410-17. 

Rent,  and  Metropolitan  Buildings  Acts, 
210  n. 

Republics,  and  monarchies,  312. 

Research,  endowment  of,  293. 

Revolutions,  and  nature  of  citizens, 
251-52. 

Rewards,  and  education,  183. 

Richson,  on  education,  185. 

Rights:  instinct  of  personal, 49-51 ;  per- 
ception of  others,  49-51 ;  justice  and 
personal,  51-53;  denial  of,  53-54,  57- 
59 ;  and  greatest  happiness,  54 ;  rela- 
tive merits,  57-59;  of  property,  62-64, 
390-97,  410 ;  of  property  in  ideas,  68- 
72 ;  of  women,  73-79 ;  of  children,  80- 
90 ;  political,  91-94 ;  and  national  edu- 
cation, 156;  natural,  387-90,  392-97; 
individual  and  social,  397-401,  401-5, 
407-11. 

Robbery,  (see  Theft). 

Roman  Catholicism,  and  law  of  equal 
freedom,  37,  38. 

Rome,  republic  unpopular  in,  287-88. 

Rote-learning,  and  memory,  182-83. 

Rugg,  H.  H.,  on  milk  adulteration,  162. 

Russia:  dishonesty  in,  101 ;  and  official- 
ism, 134  a, ;  morality,  243;  assassinu- 
28 


tion  in,  262  and  n. ;  official  rank  in, 
316;  serfdom  in,  322. 

SANITARY  SUPERVISION  :  200-220 ;  re- 
striction of  State  interference,  200-1, 
201-2,  218-19,  351-52;  moral  supervi- 
sion, 202-3 ;  and  natural  selection,  203- 
7 ;  result  of  present  legislation,  207-12 ; 
inefficiency  of  boards  of  health,  212- 
15 ;  effect  on  character,  215-18 ;  pri- 
vate enterprise,  218-20. 

Savage,  and  civilization,  238-39. 

Scales,  social  analogy,  315. 

Schelling,  F.  W.  J.,  theory  of  life,  256  n. 

Schools,  (see  Education). 

Science :  and  universities,  168 ;  religion 
and  suffering,  303 ;  individual  life, 
397-401 ;  social  life,  401-5. 

Scinde,  cost  of,  192. 

Scotland,  banking  in,  223-24, 

Sea-birds  Act,  292. 

Seed  Supply  Act,  289. 

Selfishness :  prevalence  of,  95  -  97 ;  at 
tires,  263 ;  and  social  affairs,  265-67. 

Sensitiveness,  individual  and  social, 
271-72. 

Sentiment,  development  of,  126. 

Servants  :  "  thank  you,"  75 ;  treatment 
of,  372. 

Sewage :  disposal  of,  218-20 ;  Chelten- 
ham drainage,  218  n. ;  (see  also  Sani- 
tary Supervision). 

Shaffesbury,  Earl,  error  of  doctrine,  22. 

Shame,  and  sympathy,  50. 

Shipping,  (see  Merchant  Shipping  Act). 

Shipwrecks,  prevention,  353. 

Silk-weavers,  and  legislation,  340. 

Silver :  hall-marking,  351 ;  (see  also  Cur- 
rency). 

Sir,  used  by  children,  82. 

Slavery:  suppression  in  Africa,  11-12; 
and  Society  of  Friends,  52  ;  cruelty  of 
emancipated  slaves,  52 ;  and  educa- 
tion, 87 ;  recommended  L,  129  ;  and 
sympathy,  239-40  ;  in  Jamaica,  240  ; 
and  religion,  250 ;  and  free  men,  250  ; 
in  America,  262 ;  slave  valuation,  264 ; 
and  whig  principles,  284;  and  sur- 
render of  liberty,  296-99 ;  The  Com- 
ing, 302-33;  suffering  and  responsi- 
bility, 302-4;  poor  law  system,  304- b; 
and  socialism,  321-22;  effect  of,  336. 

Small-pox  :  and  vaccination,  212-1;?, 
291 ;  cause,  267-68. 

Smith,  Adam :  theory  of  moral  senti- 
ments, 49-51 ;  money  is  wealth,  In:;. 

Society  :  knowledge  of  man  and,  14  ; 
condition  to  happiness,  33-35 ;  govern- 
ment and  activity,  36-40 ;  harmony  of 
political,  connubial,  and  filial  rela- 
tionships, 77,  M,  82-84;  regulation  of 
commerce  :m<l  general  state  of,  137- 
4<>;  the  right  of  maintenance,  144-46; 
general  morality,  265-67  ;  and  the  in- 


430 


SOCIALISM— VACCINATION. 


dividual,  267-73 ;  a  growth,  215-16 ; 
371 ;  structure,  241 ;  division  ot  labour, 
268-73 ;  interdependence  of  parts, 
271-72;  individuation,  272;  benefits 
to  mature  and  immature,  359-60 ;  gene- 
sis and  traits  of,  373-75 ;  individual 
life,  397-401. 

Socialism :  and  property,  65-67 ;  propa- 
ganda. 319  ;  and  slavery,  321 ;  evils, 
328-33. 

Modal  Statics,  alterations  in,  61. 

Soldiers :  sympathy  at  flogging,  50 ;  and 
policemen,  118 ;  (see  also  Militancy, 
War.) 

Sociology,  (see  Society). 

Soil,  (see  Earth). 

Sovereign,  the ,  Hobbes  on,  378-80 ; 
Austin  on,  380. 

Spain :  justification  for  war,  74 ;  and 
colonization,  196. 

Specialization,  and  organization,  121. 

Special  pleading,  in  Ireland,  101. 

Species,  continuance  of,  359-63. 

Spencer,  Rev.  T.,  and  poor  law,  304-5. 

Spendthrift,  instinct  ot,  19. 

Sport,  in  England,  102. 

State,  the :  constitution  of,  95-108 ;  pre- 
valent selfishness,  95-97 ;  vices  of  rich 
and  poor,  97-99 ;  prevalent  dishonesty, 
99-102 ;  ignorance  of  enfranchised, 
102-5  ;  democracy,  105-8 ;  duty  of, 
109-20,  126-27 ;  corrupt  administra- 
tion of  justice,  109-10,  110-11 ;  should 
be  well  administered,  111-14;  duty  of 
defence,  117-20 ;  limit  of  duty,  121- 
36;  specialization  of  function,  121-23  ; 
evils  of  administrative  mechanism, 
123-24, 126 ;  difficulty  of 'defining  duty, 
127-31;  evils  of  officialism,  131-36; 
and  regulation  of  commerce,  137-40  ; 
religious  establishments,  141-43 ;  and 
trade  interference,  161-62-  education 
and  conduct,  170-76;  religion  and 
education,  179-85 ;  and  voluntary  edu- 
cation, 185-87 ;  regulation  of  currency, 
221-24 ;  as  banker.  224-25 ;  as  coiner, 
225-26  ;  and  postal  arrangements,  228- 
31 ;  and  execution  of  public  works, 
231-32 ;  ethics  of,  and  of  family.  361- 
63  ;  landowner,  386  ;  (see  also  Educa- 
tion, Government). 

Statistics,  ignorance  of,  207. 

Statics,  the  term  social,  233. 

Stealing,  (see  Theft). 

Stewardship,  parliamentary  analogy,  91 

Sumatra,  customs  in,  391. 

Supply  and  demand,  215-16,  342-47. 

Survival  of  the  Fittest,  (see  Natural  Se- 
lection). 

Sympathy :  and  instinct  of  personal 
rignts,  49-51 ;  justice,  51-53  ;  exercise 
needful  to,  84 ;  and  poor  laws,  146-49, 
149-53;  and  disease,  206;  for  men 
and  animals,  234-36;  and  slavery, 


239-41 ;  with  suffering,  302 ;  and  civ- 
ilized life,  364 ;  and  struggle  for  ex- 
istence, 365-69. 

TAILORING  :  and  State  duty,  128. 

Tannese,  club  law,  399. 

Tasmanians,  rights  among,  399. 

Tax-collector,  effect  of  visit,  147. 

Taxes:  and  selfishness,  96;  limit  of 
State  duty,  123, 124;  and  discontent, 
135 ;  and  sanitary  supervision,  200-1 ; 
215-18 ;  on  bricks,  windows,  and  ven- 
tilators, 211 «.,  344 ;  restrictive  legisla- 
tion, 295-96 ;  in  New  York,  324  n. ;  on 
building,  343-44;  and  aggression, 
369-71. 

Tay  Bridge,  failure  of,  351. 

Telegraphy :  physical  and  moral  force, 
116-17  j  restrictive  legislation,  292 ; 
and  Admiralty,  350. 

Theatres:  and  State  duty,  130;  firesat,263. 

Theft :  and  perfect  law,  26 ;  property  in 
ideas,  69 ;  praised  by  Spartans,  74 ; 
administration  of  justice,  109,  110-11 ; 
and  knowledge,  174 ;  and  loyalty,  243 ; 
effect  of,  404-5 ;  rights  of  property, 
409-10. 

Theory,  truth  of,  81. 

Thiers,  M.,  on  railways,  404. 

Timber,  legislation  and  house-,  344. 

Toryism:  The  New,  281-301;  intrinsic- 
nature,  281-86;  common  to  villages, 
282 ;  aim  of,  283  ;  and  compulsory  co- 
operation, 299-300,  301. 

Trade:  "good  for,"  103-4;  and  State 
interference,  127-31,161-62,289;  and 
crime,  172-73 ;  and  colonization,  190- 
92,  192-94 ;  and  American  independ- 
ence, 194;  English  colonial,  196;  sup- 
ply and  demand,  216;  conduct  and 
law,  245-46 :  and  affairs  of  society. 
265-67 ;  interdependence  of,  271-72 ; 
and  democratic  federation,  319 ;  and 
individual  effort,  357-59 ;  (see  also  La- 
bour, Industrialism). 

Trade  Unions :  coercion  of,  297 :  Eng- 
lish and  foreign,  317 ;  organization, 
328^29 ;  congress  of,  in  France,  331. 

Transition :  stage  of,  unhappy,  364 ; 
present  social  stage,  412  ;  necessarily 
gradual,  414-15. 

Turkey,  medical  officers  in,  203. 

Tyranny :  and  cringing,  243 ;  and  as- 
sassination, 262. 

UAPES  :  law  of,  399. 
Usage,  precedes  law,  298. 
Usury,  effect  of  laws,  128,  132,  339. 
Utility,  indefiniteness  of  phrase,  21. 
Utilitarianism,   and    governmental   au- 
thority, 407-11. 

VACCINATION  :  and  small  pox,  212-13 ; 
enforcement,  291. 


VEDDAHS— YORKSHIRE. 


431 


Veddahs,  rights  among,  :;'.»*. 

Ventilation:  tax  on,  211  //. ;  and  sani- 
tary supervision,  203. 

Vertcbrata  :  vision,  268-69;  number  of 
vertel HM'.  2t>9;  locomotion,  269-70. 

Vijrnolfs,  ('.  15.,  on  railways.  404  n. 

Vision:  adaptation  of,  29,  32 ;  of  insects 
and  vertebrate,  268-69 ;  development 
of,  286. 

Votes,  desire  in  politics  tor,  318-19. 

\V'A<,KS:  effect  of  law  on,  12,  138,  246, 
•J'.»4 :  pay  n  lent  of,  264;  poor  law  and 
••  nuke-wages,'1  305 ;  effect  of  poor  law, 
306-8. 

Wakley,  Mr.,  on  counter-practice,  204. 

Water-works,  first  in  London,  217. 

\Var:  "just  cause  for,"  74 ;  and  defen- 
sive duty  of  the  State,  117-20;  Na- 
ture's, 149  ;  cost  of  English,  192  ;  and 
emigration,  198 ;  authority  of  chief, 
•'Ji!4 ;  of  lower  creatures,  363 ;  Boer, 
366-67 ;  genesis  of  society,  373-75  • 
and  sovereignty,  378-81 ;  and  will  of 
majority,  385 ;  and  subordination,  394- 


05,  413-14;  and  retaliation,  416-17; 
(see  oho  Militancy). 

Wealth :  and  property  in  ideas,  70 ;  and 
moral  worth,  97-99 ;  and  colonization, 
190. 

Weavers'  wages,  12. 

Whig,  (see  Liberalism). 

Wife,  (see  Women). 

Window  Tax,  eifect,  211  «.,  344. 

Windsor  Castle,  built  by  impressed  la- 
bour, 101. 

Wolf  and  lamb  fable,  74. 

Women :  rights  of,  73-79  ;  ability,  73  ; 
love  and  coercion,  75-77  ;  and  civiliza- 
tion, 77,  81,  82-84;  prospect  of  rights, 
77-79 ;  political  position,  79 ;  bargains 
of,  102  and  n. ;  restrictive  legislation, 
291,  293 ;  property  of  married,  396. 

Wool,  industry,  402. 

Work:  and  freedom,  41:  and  law  of 
nature,  303 ;  (see  also  Industrialism, 
Labour,  Trade). 

Working  men,  moral  worth,  97. 

YORKSHIRE  industries,  402. 


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